Nicaragua's Ortega called Catholic Church ‘perfect dictatorship’

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega said Wednesday that the Catholic Church is a "perfect dictatorship" for not allowing the majority of Catholics to elect the pope and the rest of its religious authorities.

In the Catholic Church "everything is imposed, it is a perfect dictatorship, it is a perfect tyranny,” Ortega said during an address on national TV.

“Who chooses the priests, who chooses the bishops, who chooses the pope, the cardinals," the president questioned ."If they are going to be democratic, they should start electing the pope, the cardinals, the bishops," he added.

The confrontation between the Catholic Church and the government has intensified following the house arrest on Aug. 19 of Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who has been very critical of the president.

The government said Alvarez was arrested because he was engaging "in destabilizing and provocative activities."

Nine Catholic priests have been imprisoned in Nicaragua, another one is under house arrest and many members of the clergy have fled the country to avoid getting arrested for raising their voices against the government, which they label as authoritarian. The Catholic community in the country has condemned the human rights violations, religious persecution and abuses of power by Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.

Nicaragua has been undergoing a political and social crisis since April 2018 exacerbated by a presidential election that the international community has denounced as neither free nor fair.

More than 40 of Ortega's opponents were arrested by government security forces months before the country's presidential election.

According to a report by the NGO Observatorio Pro Transparencia y Anticorrupcion, the Catholic Church has received almost 200 aggressions between April 2018 and May 2022 in the country, a situation that has forced Pope Francis to speak about the conditions in Nicaragua.

“I would like to express my conviction and my hope that, through an open and sincere dialogue, we can continue to find the basis for a respectful and peaceful coexistence,” Pope Francis said.​​​​​​​