ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 8, 2023 / 15:25 pm
The president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, has demanded “the immediate release” of the bishop of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, Rolando Álvarez.
Álvarez has been under house arrest since Aug. 19, 2022, and is due to go on trial for “conspiracy to undermine state security and sovereignty” and for “spreading fake news.”
In a letter addressed to the president of the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez of the Diocese of Jinotega, Hollerich shared the “sadness and concern” with which the situation in Nicaragua is being followed.
The cardinal referred to “the persecution to which our Church and some of its members have been subjected in that country in recent times” and in particular the situation of Álvarez.