Pope Francis expressed his concern about the situation of Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Álvarez, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, who
was sentenced to 26 years in prison
in the most recent measure of that government against the Catholic Church and the opposition.
Álvarez
was sentenced on Friday
after refusing to board a plane to the United States with 222 other prisoners, all opponents of President Daniel Ortega.
In addition to jail time
, Álvarez was stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship.
"The news that has come from Nicaragua has saddened me and not a little," the pontiff declared in Saint Peter's Square to the crowd gathered for the traditional Sunday blessing.
And he added: "I cannot help but remember with concern the Bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, whom I love so much, and also the people who have been deported to the United States."
Pope Francis spoke in the Vatican about the situation of political prisoners in Nicaragua.
Photo AP photo/Alessandra Tarantino).
The pope expressed his love and concern for Álvarez and called on the faithful to pray for politicians to open their hearts.
Álvarez
was arrested in August of last year
along with several other priests and laymen.
Ortega ordered the mass release of politicians, priests, students and activists widely considered political prisoners, sending some of them on a flight to Washington on Thursday.
Ortega said that Álvarez refused to board the plane without being able to consult with other bishops.
The bishop, who was under house arrest, was taken to the nearby Modelo prison.
The banishment of political prisoners
Among the 222 Nicaraguan opponents released from prison are the
former presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro
and her brother and former minister Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, as well as other politicians who wanted to challenge Ortega in the last elections.
Former Nicaraguan pre-presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro (L), her brother former deputy Pedro Joaquín Chamorro.
AFP photo.
Two other members of the Chamorro family linked to the newspaper La Prensa, which is now published online in exile, and former guerrilla commander Dora María Téllez were also released and expelled to the United States.
On Thursday, when announcing the measure, Ortega said that the 56-year-old bishop of Matagalpa, who has been detained since August for conspiracy, refused to go to the United States with the group of those released.
look also
How was the liberation operation: the youngest political prisoner in Nicaragua speaks
Dictatorship in Nicaragua: four priests found guilty of conspiring against the State
