Nicaragua’s bishops meet with Ortega, outline concerns about nation’s direction

May 23, 2014

The bishops of Nicaragua have met with President Daniel Ortega in the apostolic nunciature and presented him with a 14-page list of concerns, the Fides news service reported.

Ortega, a leader of the Marxist Sandinistas who overthrew the authoritarian regime of Gen. Anastasio Somoza Debayle, ruled Nicaragua from the 1979 Sandinista takeover until his loss in the 1990 presidential election. Ortega won the presidential elections of 2006 and 2011, and a bishop has expressed concern that he has begun a “devious persecution” of Church.

In their 46-paragraph document, the bishops emphasized concerns about the family, including the right to life of the unborn, marriage as the union of a man and a woman, violence against women, government interference in family life, rural clinics that promote sterilization and abortifacients.

The bishops also said that education should be free from indoctrination, lamented limits placed on the Church’s evangelizing mission, and called for respect for human rights and civil liberties, including freedom of the press.

 

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Further information:

• Palabras de los Obispos de la CEN al Presidente de Nicaragua en el diálogo (Conferencia Episcopal de Nicaragua)
• Dialogue between the Church and government begins: "In search of new horizons for a better Nicaragua" (Fides)
• Nicaraguan bishops say candid talks will address tensions with government (CWN, 5/21)