POPE FRANCIS has spoken directly of his “concern and sorrow” about relations between his Church in Nicaragua and President Daniel Ortega’s government.

Nicaraguan clerics have been arrested in recent weeks, including the Bishop of Matagalpa, the Rt Revd Rolando Álvarez, who, with five other priests and two seminarians, had been confined to a church compound since early August (News, 12 August).

Last Friday, eyewitnesses reported a police raid on the compound in the early hours of the morning (News, 19 August). Bishop Álvarez has reportedly been taken to the capital city, Managua, where he is under house arrest at his parents’ home.

The seven men who were being held with Bishop Álvarez have been incarcerated in the El Chipote prison, where political prisoners have said to have faced torture.

Another priest, Fr Óscar Benavides, from the diocese of Siuna, is also thought to be in El Chipote, after his arrest on 14 August.

The Pope said on Sunday that he was “following closely, with concern and sorrow, the situation in Nicaragua, which involves both people and institutions.

“I would like to express my conviction and my hope that, through open and sincere dialogue, the basis for a respectful and peaceful coexistence can still be found.”

Previously, the Vatican Permanent Observer to the Organization of American States, Mgr Juan Antonio Cruz Serrano, said that the Church and the government must “find ways of understanding, based on respect and mutual trust, seeking above all the common good and peace”.

There is no official Vatican ambassador to Nicaragua, after the country’s government — led by President Ortega since 2007 — expelled the papal nuncio, the Most Revd Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag, in March.

Early this month, several radio stations owned by the Church were shut down.

Clerics in Nicaragua have been prominent in attempting to mediate between President Ortega and opponents of his regime.

After his most recent re-election to office, last year, President Ortega was widely accused of corruption and election fraud. His wife, Rosario Murillo, has been Vice-President since 2017.

In an interview with the RC news website, Crux, published on 16 August, the Nicaraguan actor and human-rights campaigner Bianca Jagger described President Ortega and his wife as waging a “violent, brutal, relentless war against the Catholic Church”.