Pope Francis today publicly denounced the sentencing of Nicaragua’s Bishop Rolando Álvarez to 26 years and four months in prison.
Latin America
Posted inPolitics & Society
Nicaragua deports 222 political prisoners to U.S., including 4 priests
Nicaragua has released more than 200 political prisoners, including Catholic priests, students, and opponents of the regime, who were taken from detention in deplorable conditions and sent to the United States.
Posted inFaith, News
Four Catholic priests sentenced to 10 years in prison in Nicaragua
Six churchmen and a diocesan communicator were sentenced to 10 years in prison on conspiracy charges as Nicaragua’s increasingly tyrannical regime continues its persecution of the Catholic Church.
Posted inFaith, News
Where in the world is Catholic Mass attendance highest?
The nation with the highest Catholic Mass attendance could be Nigeria, as 94 percent of self-identified Nigerian Catholics said they attended daily or weekly Mass, in a new study.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Peru’s Catholic Church will ‘suffer with everyone’ as protests persist
While the violence makes headlines. peaceful protests that have drawn thousands of campesinos from around Peru’s Altiplano have received no attention.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
With a ‘sham trial’ of a Nicaraguan bishop about to begin, a clampdown on the nation’s Catholic Church continues
Bishop Álvarez briefly materialized in Managua for a pre-trial hearing, accused of “conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news.” A frequent government critic, Bishop Álvarez had strongly objected to the closing of Catholic radio and television stations last year.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Pope Francis and Catholic leaders condemn attacks on Brazil’s capital
“This has no place in democratic coexistence,” Cardinal Odilo Scherer tweeted on the day of the riots.
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As Lula takes office (again), the church in Brazil calls for reconciliation and a campaign to end hunger
After four years of the far-right government of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, Brazilians peacefully welcomed—for the third time—the inauguration of the popular center-left leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on New Year’s Day.
Posted inFaith, News
‘I saw Archbishop Romero on a stretcher’: Salvadoran cardinal looks back in new book
In a candid account of his five decades in the Salvadoran church, the country’s first cardinal tells of calumnies against El Salvador’s St. Oscar Romero, but also of slights against him by other prelates.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
State of emergency in El Salvador brings arbitrary detentions and violence
Twenty-two men from Espíritu Santo Island who were arrested between under President Nayib Bukele’s state of emergency decree in El Salvador.