by Marielbis Rojas
In a harsh escalation against religious freedom in Nicaragua, the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo prohibited Catholic priests from entering public hospitals to give patients the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
“They are prohibiting the entry of priests into hospitals to carry the Holy Oils for the Anointing of the Sick,” said lawyer and author Martha Patricia Molina, who wrote, “Nicaragua: a persecuted Church?”
In statements to La Prensa, the lawyer claimed to have received information that “in public hospitals, when priests show up, dressed in their clerical collar, they are not allowed to enter and have been told that they are prohibited from entering the hospitals.”
She said that the ban extends to all departments of the country.
Nada sigue normal. En la última semana un sacerdote salió al exilio producto de la persecución policial. Además, en los hospitales están prohibiendo el ingreso de sacerdotes para que lleven los Santos Oleos para la unción de los enfermos. pic.twitter.com/KzuDi2eav2
— Martha Patricia M (@mpatricia_m) November 6, 2024
Molina, who documented 870 attacks against the Catholic Church between 2018 and 2024, and more than 100 against the evangelical Christian church, warned that the government intends to “continue a policy of indoctrination” to “exterminate” the churches and “make them Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo the only leaders in the country.”
The measure represents a new level of control and harassment of the Catholic Church in the country, an institution that, under the regime, faces systematic and constant persecution.
The human rights defender also said that last week another priest had to go into exile as a result of the brutal persecution.
“A priest recently just fled Nicaragua because he was going to be imprisoned by the police,” she said. “He received notifications, threats and finally received a notification to appear before the authorities.”
That priest belongs to the Diocese of Siuna, a jurisdiction administered by Monsignor Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, who was kidnapped and later exiled by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship.
The regime has toughened repression after the citizen protests of 2018 and one of the institutions it pursues most zealously is the Catholic Church, which has raised its voice against Nicaraguan repression.
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Marielbis Rojas is a Venezuelan journalist and communications professional with a degree in Social Communication from UCAB. She is a news reporter for ADN America.
