The Nicaraguan police banned a procession of the Catholic Church in the capital for Saturday "
for reasons of internal security
", announced Friday August 12 in a press release the Archdiocese of Managua, while the Bishop of Matagalpa (northeast ) has been under police siege for over a week.
The archdiocese, however, invited the faithful to go to the cathedral in the capital Managua on Saturday to “
pray for the Church of Nicaragua
”.
A strong police presence around the cathedral was noted on Friday by AFP.
The procession was to close in the streets around the cathedral of Managua a week dedicated to the Virgin Mary by the Nicaraguan Church, before the return to Portugal of a replica of the statue of the Virgin of Fatima which has traveled through the nine dioceses of the Nicaragua since 2020. A parish priest from the diocese of Matagalpa (130 km northeast of Managua) also denounced the ban on a procession in his parish.
Read alsoDaniel Ortega's Nicaragua targets the Church
Sign of a crisis at its height between the Church and the power, the bishop of Matagalpa, Mgr Rolando Alvarez, has been besieged since August 4 by the police in his bishopric with a dozen religious and lay people.
The Nicaraguan authorities accuse the prelate of wanting to "
organize violent groups
" and incite "
acts of hatred (...) in order to destabilize the State of Nicaragua
".
The police announced that they had opened an investigation into these "
criminal acts
".
Relations between the Catholic Church and the government of Daniel Ortega have been strained since 2018 when demonstrators demanding the resignation of the Nicaraguan president took refuge in churches.
The repression of the demonstrations left more than 350 dead.
President Ortega accuses the Catholic clergy of complicity in what he calls a coup attempt hatched by Washington.
The crisis even led to the expulsion in March of the Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador) Bishop Waldemar Sommertag.