BISHOP’S SENTENCE CONCERNS PONTIFF

Pope Francis on Sunday expressed sadness and worry at the news that Bishop Rolando Alvarez, an outspoken critic of the Nicaraguan government, had been sentenced to 26 years in prison in the latest move against the Catholic Church and government opponents.

Hours later in Nicaragua’s capital, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes said someone had asked him what they could do for Alvarez, 56. “Pray, that is our strength,” Brenes told those gathered inside the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. “Pray that the Lord gives him strength, gives him judgment in all of his actions.”

Alvarez was sentenced Friday, after refusing to get on a flight to the United States with 222 other prisoners, all opponents of President Daniel Ortega. In addition to his prison term, Alvarez was stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship.

“The news that arrived from Nicaragua has saddened me no little,” the pontiff told the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the traditional Sunday blessing, expressing both his love and concern for Alvarez.

He called on the faithful to pray for the politicians responsible “to open their hearts.”

The comments by Pope Francis and Brenes on Sunday were the first made publicly by the church about the expulsion of the prisoners and of Alvarez’s sentence.

Ortega ordered the mass release of political leaders, priests, students and activists widely considered political prisoners and had some of them put on a flight to Washington on Thursday. Ortega said Alvarez refused to board without being able to consult with other bishops.

Alvarez, who had been held under house arrest, was taken to the nearby Modelo prison.

In the run-up to Ortega’s re-election in November 2021, Nicaraguan authorities arrested seven potential opposition presidential candidates to clear the field. The government closed hundreds of nongovernmental organizations that Ortega has accused of taking foreign funding and using it to destabilize his government.

The former guerrilla fighter has long had a tense relationship with the Catholic Church, but targeted it more directly last year in his campaign to extinguish voices of dissent.

Ortega kicked out the papal nuncio, the Vatican’s top diplomat, in March. Later, the government shut down several radio stations in Alvarez’s diocese ahead of elections, and Alvarez was arrested in August along with several other priests and lay people, accused of undermining the government and spreading false information.