Nicaragua cracks down further on church during Holy Week

Police and paramilitaries maintained a heavy presence outside the Nicaraguan Managua cathedral on Palm Sunday, ensuring celebrations occurred entirely on church property — and sending a not-so-subtle message of intimidation.

Inside the cathedral, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Managua ignored the harassment. He focused his homily on forgiveness instead.

“Forgiveness is part of the Lord’s passion, it is part of the fruit of an experience of suffering, of pain, but one that has been done with love, and Christ Jesus has done it because it has been the mission entrusted to him,” Cardinal Brenes said. “Let that be a strong point when we have any doubt. Let us remember that God loves us and loves us intensely. As Pope Francis tells us, God forgives everything and forgives us all.”

Catholics across Nicaragua are celebrating Holy Week under surveillance as the Sandinista regime prohibits public processions for the third consecutive year.

The restrictions deepen the repression from the regime of co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who have blasted Catholic leaders as “terrorists,” sent clergy into exile and increasingly attempted to control church activities.

“The Nicaraguan dictatorship has banned street processions. What they will not be able to prevent is the crucified one from revealing his victory in every struggle for truth and justice, in every effort to defend human dignity, and in every act of solidarity for the victims,” Auxiliary Bishop Silvio José Báez of Managua said via a social media post. Bishop Báez left Nicaragua in 2019 for security reasons but has ministered to exiled Nicaraguans in the Miami area and continued denouncing the Sandinista regime’s repression.

Regime repression increasingly involves the intimidation of priests, who are spied upon by police, paramilitaries and even parishioners, according to church observers. Priests must check in regularly with the police and provide details on their weekly activities, according to a report by Church Solidarity Worldwide. They also cannot leave their local municipalities without permission — something hindering the celebration of Mass in dioceses decimated by clergy being exiled. They also must watch their words during Mass.

“Religious leaders of all types reported regularly receiving verbal orders from security officers not to mention specific subjects including political prisoners, Israel, and the general situation in Nicaragua in any of their public discourse and not to use the combination of the colours blue and white (the colours of the Nicaraguan flag) in any decorations or other materials,” the report said.

“Preaching about unity or justice or praying for imprisoned religious leaders or even the general situation in the country, for example, can be considered as criticism of the government and treated as a crime.”

Spies routinely sit in on Mass and infiltrate parish communities. Police often pay intimidating visits to priests.

“The regime has managed to infiltrate parishes and pastoral staff, as lectors, catechists and other members of pastoral staff” through an espionage network known as citizen power councils, said Denis Alaniz, a journalist with Panorama Católica, which covers the Nicaraguan Catholic Church from exile.

“Some priests have had the courage to mention something about justice. (But) in order to preach, they’re being required to send their homilies, but not in all cases.”

Alaniz told OSV News that some priests in the Diocese of Matagalpa — where the local Bishop Rolando Álvarez and many priests were forced into exile — forgo homilies and “are not preaching during Mass to avoid being kidnapped.”

He added that priests’ work “basically consists of surviving and remaining as quiet as possible so he can continue his pastoral work. At least the administration of the sacraments.”

The Catholic Church had become the last bastion of dissent in Nicaragua as the Sandinista regime closed independent media outlets, extinguished the legal status of non-governmental and religious organizations — including religious congregations and church charitable projects — and cowed the business community into silence.

The regime has portrayed the Catholic Church as an enemy since 2018, when protesters demanded Ortega’s ouster. The church provided shelters for protesters coming under police and paramilitary attack and worked with the families of political prisoners.

“They always increase repression around the holidays, or anywhere where people gather for practical purposes,” Caroline Cowen, an international affairs consultant, told OSV News.

Good Friday in 2025 falls on April 18, the anniversary of the day protests erupted — something “they’re still mad about,” she said.

At least 226 churchmen and churchwomen — including four bishops — have been forced to abandon Nicaragua or have been prohibited from returning after traveling abroad, according to Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer in exile who documents repression against the Catholic Church in her home country. Some 14 religious orders have also left Nicaragua since 2018, according to Molina, and at least 74 Catholic-sponsored organizations have been shuttered, including universities, Caritas chapters and charitable projects, according to her latest report in December 2024.

“It’s a sign of fear of the church’s spiritual power,” Arturo McFields, a former Nicaraguan diplomat, said of the continued crackdown in comments to OSV News. “Despite the controls, the imprisonments, the expulsions of priests, the burning of temples, the desecration of sacred symbols, despite the censorship of the religious processions of Holy Week … people’s faith remains intact, and that scares them,” he said.

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