Although Pope Francis did not address Nicaragua in the manner that some anticipated in his Aug. 21 Sunday Angelus, a Nicaraguan priest who lives in exile in the United States noted that if he had used harsher language, the crowds of the regime “would have invaded the churches that same Sunday.”
Father Rafael Bermudez has been living in exile in the US since 2018, when the Daniel Ortega administration expanded its attacks on the Catholic Church in reprisal for comments made by priests and bishops about the country’s problems.
The priest responded to a question on remarks made by Pope Francis regarding the situation in Nicaragua, where many priests have been detained and are being housed under house arrest while others are being jailed in the infamous El Chipote prison.
The scenario produced in Nicaragua, which includes both individuals and institutional structures, is one the pope said he is “closely observing, with anxiety and regret.”
He said that he hoped “they can discover the foundation for a respectful and peaceful cohabitation via an open and true discourse.”
It’s complicated, Bermudez said. “When I say complicated, I’m referring to the perception among the general public that the pope not only delayed speaking out, but also didn’t say what they were expecting.
It’s complicated because it serves as a reminder that the Holy See and the dictatorship do not necessarily have a direct link.
The priest brought up how the Ortega regime had ousted Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag as the papal nuncio in March. After that, he said, “the Holy See has no formal representative.”
Additionally, the pope reminded that conversation is the method—and this is the painful part—that the Church constantly employs. However, Bermudez said, discussion is impractical. what justification?
There are no prerequisites, and the presence of humans is the only need, the pope said.
Because “the dictatorship doesn’t allow it,” according to the exiled Nicaraguan priest, “we don’t have cohabitation” in the nation.
There are no prerequisites for a discourse, he said, “if they are intolerant, if they oppress, murder, persecute, or jail.”
What would have occurred on that particular day if the pope had spoken, even just as I am speaking? … How would things have turned out?
The priests would have likely been attacked that same Sunday by all of their mobs and paramilitaries, who may have invaded the churches to assault the populace and the buildings itself.
He added that with merely a signal from the regime, “and they respond with all the hatred and hostility conceivable,” and that he “can’t fathom all the atrocities they do.”