On September 6, 2022, Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag was appointed apostolic nuncio to Senegal, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritania in Africa. César Pérez / Archdiocese of Managua provided the image.
Denver Newsroom, Sep 6, 2022 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, the former apostolic nuncio in Nicaragua who was ejected from the nation by the Daniel Ortega dictatorship, would be assigned to Africa, the Holy See Press Office stated on September 6.
Sommertag will now serve as the apostolic nuncio in Senegal, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritania as part of his new mission.
On March 6, the prelate was expelled from Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference released a statement on March 9 confirming his departure for Rome.
Referring to the nuncio’s “accreditation with the Government of Nicaragua,” the bishops of Nicaragua stated that “this matter is the exclusive bilateral competence of the Holy See and the Government of Nicaragua; therefore, this Episcopal Conference, out of deference and respect for the procedures of the Holy See, refrains from issuing a statement on this issue.”
The Holy See issued a press announcement on March 11 after the Ortega government withdrew its approval of Sommertag as the pope’s agent in Managua, a position he held since 2018.
The Holy See announced that it had received “with surprise and grief the notification that the Government of Nicaragua has decided to revoke its approval” for Sommertag to serve as nuncio, “requiring him to leave the country immediately after being notified of this move.”
On February 15, 2018, Sommertag was appointed apostolic nuncio to Nicaragua at a time when the country was experiencing a severe social and political crisis that led to major anti-government protests. The Ortega government responded to the demonstrations in various places, including the capital, Managua, with harsh repression. According to local human-rights organisations, more than 300 individuals were slain in the persecution.
In 2019, the nuncio participated as a witness in the second round of negotiations between the administration and the opposition, but without success. Since the 2018 protests, the government’s relations with the Catholic bishops have been tight. Ortega has accused the bishops of plotting his ouster and has referred to them as “devils in cassocks” and “terrorists.”
Punishment in Nicaragua
The persecution of Catholics by the Nicaraguan regime is becoming increasingly severe. In August, Rolando lvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa, was prohibited from leaving his chancery for many days before being kidnapped in the middle of the night and carried to Managua, where he remains under house arrest at a family home.
Priests, seminarians, and a layman who were inside the chancery with lvarez were also prevented from leaving and were abducted and transferred to El Chipote, a prison in Managua notorious for torturing regime opponents, that same night.
Moreover, the Ortega regime has shut down at least six Catholic radio stations.
Sommertag biography
She was born on February 6, 1968. His ordination occurred on May 30, 1993.
He is a doctor of canon law and joined the diplomatic service of the Vatican on June 19, 2000. He has served in Israel, Tanzania, Nicaragua, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He is fluent in Polish, Russian, Italian, German, Spanish, and English.
This item was originally published by CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, ACI Prensa. CNA has translated and altered the document.