Nicaraguan Catholic questions reinstatement of unrepentant Sandinista priest

August 12, 2014

Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, the Nicaraguan priest who once served in the country’s Sandinista government, has celebrated Mass once again after Pope Francis lifted his 29-year suspension from ministry.

Father d’Escoto, who is now 81 years old, had written to the Pontiff asking for a restoration of his faculties before his death. Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Nicaragua told a local reporter that he was not involved in the case, since “I was not here when he was suspended, and I barely know him.”

But a pro-life activist in Nicaragua told the National Catholic Register that the lifting of Father d’Escoto’s suspension raised questions, since the Maryknoll priest had made no statement of repentance for his defiance of the Vatican. Elida Zelaya Solorzano also expressed concern about a recent interview in which Father d’Escoto described Fidel Castro as “the greatest Latin American of all time.”

 

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Further information:

• Vatican Permits Maryknoll Father Miguel d’Escoto to Celebrate Mass Again (National Catholic Register)
• Pope lifts suspension of priest who served as Sandinista foreign minister (CWN, 8/5)