Pope Leo XIV received on Nov. 13 Rolando Álvarez, the exiled bishop of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí in Nicaragua.
The Nicaraguan government has lashed out at the Vatican following an interview Bishop Rolando Álvarez gave last week to the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News in Rome.
In an exclusive interview, persecuted Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez shares with EWTN News his experience one year after his release from prison and arrival in Rome.
The dictatorship’s order reportedly was carried out on the night of Jan. 28, forcing some 30 cloistered nuns belonging to the Order of St. Clare to leave their monasteries.
According to a Nicaraguan news outlet, at the time of the confiscation there were at least 30 students in formation at the St. Aloyisius Gonzaga Major Seminary.
In his first public Mass, celebrated in Seville province, Spain, Bishop Rolando Álvarez prayed for his “beloved Nicaragua.”
Speaking at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, the pope told faculty and students to avoid superficial approaches to faith formation.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos is once again in the news after Pope Francis appointed him to participate in the second session of the Synod on Synodality.
One priest and seven deacons were ordained July 20 by the president of the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference in the Matagalpa cathedral.
Despite being persecuted by Daniel Ortega’s regime for years, “the Church is still alive in Nicaragua,” a priest from the country told ACI Prensa.
