By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-12-04 17:46:27 | Updated at 2024-12-05 02:45:42
8 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // Bishops from Central America have called for the faithful to observe Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, as a day of prayer for Nicaragua, which is facing rampant religious persecution.
Vatican News reports that bishops from Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, and El Salvador released a statement titled “Central American Day of Prayer for the Church in Nicaragua: ‘We cry out with Nicaragua.'”
The statement reads, “Let us express our profound solidarity and communion with the people of God in Nicaragua, who often face a challenging reality.”
They also called on all Central American faithful to observe the day of prayer “so that no one feels alone.”
This week, Pope Francis wrote a pastoral letter to the Church in Nicaragua, expressing encouragement and solidarity, as CatholicVote previously reported.
“Do not forget the loving Providence of the Lord, who accompanies us and is the only sure guide,” the Pope wrote. “Precisely in the most difficult moments, when it becomes humanly impossible to understand what God wants from us, we are called not to doubt His care and mercy.”
“The filial trust you have in Him and also your fidelity to the Church are the two great beacons that illuminate your existence,” he continued. “Be certain that faith and hope work miracles. Let us look to the Immaculate Virgin: she is the luminous witness of this confidence.”
He also referenced the upcoming Feast of the Immaculate Conception, writing, “I hope that this celebration of the Immaculate Conception, which prepares us for the opening of the Jubilee 2025, will give you the encouragement you need in times of difficulty, uncertainty and hardship. On this feast, do not forget to abandon yourself to Jesus’ arms, with the invocation Dios primero, ‘God first’, which you often repeat.”
The Nicaraguan government under President Daniel Ortega has severely persecuted and restricted the Church. In November, Ortega banned priests from administering Last Rites in hospitals.
The regime exiled Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez of Jinotega, president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, the same month, sending him to Guatemala.
In January, Bishop Rolando José Alvarez of Matagalpa was exiled to Rome after spending 500 days in a prison that Rep. Chris Smith (R.-NJ) has described as “Ortega’s gulag.”
