Jesuit who worked as Sandinista government minister dead at 82
February 23, 2016
Father Fernando Cardenal, a Jesuit liberation theologian who supported Nicaragua’s Sandinista revolution and served as the nation’s education minister from 1984 to 1990, died on February 20 at the age of 82.
Rebuked by St. John Paul and suspended from the priesthood, Father Cardenal was reinstated as a member of the Society of Jesus in 1997.
In a 2015 interview, he expressed his support for contraception, the ordination of women, and the return to the ministry of former priests who had married.
Looking back upon his life, he said that he believed that Jesus asked him to commit himself to the Sandinista revolution and that “Jesus’ voice was stronger than the Pope’s.”
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Further information:
- Priest who defied pope, Fernando Cardenal, dies at 82 (AP)
- Cardenal: “libertad para opinar” sobre temas discutibles en la Iglesia (Confidencial)
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