Since Christmas, Nicaraguan police and paramilitaries have detained more than a dozen priests, including an archdiocesan vicar, as the Sandinista regime escalates a campaign of terror against the Catholic Church — an institution it has struggled to subdue.
Reuters reported in the afternoon of Dec. 30 that the number of priests detained numbered 12 in the prior three days. On Jan. 1, citing Nicaraguan media outlet 100% Noticias and other local sources, Vatican News reported that a priest was arrested after he celebrated Mass on New Year’s Eve and that the number of priests detained over Christmas and New Year’s is now 14.
Pope Francis voiced his concern over the worsening situation of the persecuted Nicaraguan church in his New Year’s Angelus prayer. Speaking to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said he was “following with concern what is happening in Nicaragua, where bishops and priests have been deprived of their freedom.”
He expressed his “closeness in prayer to them, their families and the entire church in the country,” urging that Catholics “pray insistently” to find “a path of dialogue to overcome difficulties.” “Let’s pray for Nicaragua today,” Francis said on Jan. 1.
Auxiliary Bishop Silvio José Báez — currently exiled in Miami — issued an urgent plea for solidarity, saying in a Dec. 30 post on X (formerly known as Twitter): “The Sandinista dictatorship this week unleashed a ferocious manhunt targeting priests, imprisoning many of them, in addition to two bishops already imprisoned. I beg bishops and the world’s bishops’ conferences not to abandon us at this time; may they pray for the church of Nicaragua, stand in solidarity, and raise their voices to denounce this persecution by the dictatorship against our Church!”
Most of the affected priests were detained between Dec. 28 and Dec. 30 — with several taken by police and paramilitaries from their parish residences, according to independent Nicaragua media and activists tracking attacks on the Catholic Church.
Four priests were taken during the evening hours of Dec. 29 and after midnight Dec. 30 in the Archdiocese of Managua. They were identified as Fr. Mykel Monterrey, pastor of Our Lady of Candlemas Parish; Fr. Gerardo Rodríguez, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish; Fr. Raúl Zamora, pastor of Divine Mercy Parish; and Msgr. Miguel Mántica, pastor of St. Francis of Asís Parish. As of Dec. 30, the priests’ whereabouts were unknown.
Báez also confirmed the detentions of other priests from the Archdiocese of Managua, whom he described as “pastors and prophets.”They include Fr. Pablo Villafranca, pastor of Our Lord of the True Cross Parish in the city of Masaya; Fr. Héctor Treminio, the archdiocesan treasurer; Msgr. Silvio Fonseca, pastor of Santa Faz Parish; and Msgr. Carlos Avilés, the general vicar and a vocal critic of human rights abuses and church repression in Nicaragua.
“I am outraged by the unjust kidnapping of three beloved priests from Managua by the criminal Sandinista dictatorship,” Báez posted Dec. 28 on X: “I ask God to protect them and that they be released immediately!”He posted on X the following day, “The fury of the criminal Ortega dictatorship unleashed against the church continues.”
Two priests outside of the Archdiocese of Managua also were reported arrested, according to Martha Patricia Molina, an exiled lawyer and researcher tracking attacks on the Nicaraguan church. Fr. Fernando Calero and Msgr. Marcos Díaz, priests in the dioceses of Matagalpa and León respectively, were abducted Dec. 28, Molina posted on X.
Reuters reported that four priests were arrested early Dec. 30, according to a high-ranking member of the Catholic Church.
- Source: National Catholic Reporter
