Whether church or party, the Nicaraguan theologian and author Ernesto Cardenal did not avoid an argument. He had long wanted to have nothing to do with his revolutionary companions of yore. On the other hand, he made his peace with the Vatican.
Managua (dpa) - He was the intellectual figurehead of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. As an idealistic poet, he dreamed of the kingdom of heaven in socialist municipalities, as culture minister of his Central American homeland he promoted the literacy of the poor rural population.
Most recently he was a bitter opponent of his former comrades. Ernesto Cardenal has now died at the age of 95.
"Hope drives me stronger than belief and love drives me even stronger than hope," said the theologian and writer once in an interview with the German Press Agency. Cardenal was a verbose admonisher, who put his poetic work against hopelessness and knew love as the only element of change, the jury of the Peace Prize of the German book trade once founded the award of the Nicaraguan (1980).
"With the death of Ernesto Cardenal, we lose a major advocate and advocate for the poor. With him, an influential voice for peace and justice in Latin America has fallen silent," said Father Michael Heinz, General Manager of the Catholic Aid Agency Adveniat.
Cardenal came from a wealthy family from Granada. He studied philosophy and literature in Mexico City and New York, later theology in Mexico and Colombia. He spent two years in a Trappist monastery in the USA before being ordained a priest in 1965.
On the island of Mancarrón in the Solentiname archipelago in Lake Nicaragua, Cardenal founded a farming community based on an ancient Christian model. He saw the community as an attempt to realize the kingdom of God in earthly communism. His most famous work, "The Gospel of the Peasants of Solentiname" was also written there. He should now also find his last resting place on the island.
As a keen critic of Anastasio Somoza's dictatorship, Cardenal had to flee to Costa Rica in exile and joined the guerrilla organization FSLN there. After the victory of the Sandinista in 1979, he returned to his home country and started a large education campaign among the impoverished farmers as Minister of Culture for the new government.
During the Pope's visit to Managua in 1983, there was an uproar between the left theologian and the Vatican. Because Sandinista party supporters booed John Paul II, the head of the church regulated Cardenal in public. Two years later he was suspended from the priesthood because of his political work.
After the end of the first Sandinista reign, Cardenal also broke with his former revolutionary companions. The authoritarian leadership style of Sandinista chief Daniel Ortega and the undisguised greed of the left nomenclature made him despair at his party.
Together with his friend, the Austrian actor Dietmar Schönherr, he founded the cultural foundation "Casa de los tres mundos" in Granada. He now devoted himself more to writing and published the cycle of poems "Chants of the Universe". His reading trips also brought him to Germany again and again, often together with the band Grupo Sal. His trademarks: black beret, white peasant shirt, leather sandals.
Cardenal was an icon of the Sandinista revolution, especially for the European left, but he no longer wanted to have anything to do with his former comrades. "There is nothing left of the revolution," complained Cardenal. Cardenal said that since Ortega returned to power in 2007, he had plundered the country. "It is a dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, his wife and children, who shamelessly enrich themselves."
Ortega, who took up his fourth term in January 2017 and provided his entire family with important posts, was most recently the quarreled writer's favorite enemy. Despite his poor health, he took a clear stance during the months of protests against the government, which meanwhile resulted in hundreds of deaths.
"I am deeply sorry for the oppression we are experiencing. There are massacres and arrests, kidnapping and torture," he said last. "We want a different government, a democratic republic." Despite his harsh criticism of Ortega, the government ordered a three-day mourning for the state.
Cardenal, on the other hand, has recently been mild towards the Catholic Church. He especially liked the humble appearance of Pope Francis. "This is a big change in the Vatican that no one could have predicted," said Cardenal. Francis is trying to make the world a better place for the poor and forgotten. The Catholic head of the church recently rehabilitated the once ostracized left priest. In early February 2019, Francis lifted the sanctions against him.
"It is very sad to lose the clarity and poetry that he has lived to the end," wrote Nicaraguan writer Gioconda Belli on Twitter. "But instead of crying, we should celebrate his consistent and creative life." The author and former Vice President Sergio Ramírez wrote: "I lost my big brother, close friend and longtime neighbor. He was a moral leader and a literary role model."
Writers, priests, politicians - for Cardenal that was never a contradiction. "I'm trying to live the gospel message," he said once. "It's a political message: change and improve the world after 100,000 years of inequality."
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