Walter Sánchez Silva
Walter Sánchez Silva is a senior writer for ACI Prensa (https://www.aciprensa.com). With more than 15 years of experience, he has reported from important ecclesial events in Europe, Asia and Latin America during the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. E-mail: walter@aciprensa.com
Articles by Walter Sánchez Silva
Two CRS aid workers killed in Ethiopia
Apr 12, 2023 / 11:45 amTwo Catholic Relief Services workers were shot and killed April 9, Easter Sunday, while riding in a CRS vehicle in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
Why did Bishop Alvarez refuse to leave Nicaragua? A former political prisoner explains
Apr 11, 2023 / 17:00 pmFélix Maradiaga said he was edified by “seeing the example of a bishop who has given absolutely everything for the freedom of his people.”
No let up from Ortega during Holy Week: Priest expelled, traditions banned in Nicaragua
Apr 5, 2023 / 15:20 pmThe dictatorship of Daniel Ortega hasn’t declared a truce in its persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, not even during Holy Week.
Latin America celebrates Day of the Unborn Child with pro-life marches in several countries
Mar 28, 2023 / 14:30 pmMarch 25 is celebrated as the Day of the Unborn Child in Latin America, and large pro-life marches were held in Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru.
Nicaraguans respond to ‘staged’ prison interview with Bishop Álvarez
Mar 28, 2023 / 09:15 amEl 19 Digital released photos and a video of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was visited by a brother and sister on March 25 in the prison known as La Modelo.
Imprisoned Nicaraguan Bishop Álvarez appears in video posted by dictatorship
Mar 27, 2023 / 13:30 pmEl 19 Digital posted a video of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, sentenced to 26 years in prison, in which he shares a few comments about how he is doing.
The image of the Virgin Mary that wept tears of blood on St. Patrick’s Day
Mar 17, 2023 / 16:00 pmOn March 17, 1697, an image of the Virgin Mary known as the Weeping Irish Madonna shed tears of blood for three hours.
Ortega shuts down Catholic aid organization Caritas Nicaragua
Mar 9, 2023 / 14:35 pmThe charity provided food for the country’s poorest people, donations of crutches and prostheses, delivered medicines at low cost, among many other charitable works.
Dictatorship in Nicaragua dissolves John Paul II Catholic University
Mar 9, 2023 / 11:01 amIn a new blow to the Church in Nicaragua, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega has ordered the legal status of several institutions to be revoked, including that of John Paul II Catholic University.
Whereabouts of imprisoned Nicaraguan bishop are unknown
Mar 8, 2023 / 00:05 am“We know that no one who is in the conditions which the bishop is in can be well,” Nicaraguan lawyer Martha Patricia Molina said March 7.
UN calls on Nicaragua to free Bishop Álvarez and other political prisoners
Mar 7, 2023 / 13:15 pmThe Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on the Nicaraguan dictatorship to release Bishop Rolando Álvarez.
Mexican bishops condemn police pursuit, violent arrest of migrants on cathedral grounds
Mar 6, 2023 / 15:30 pmThe Ciudad Juárez Cathedral has long been one of the places where migrants are received, as the city sits on the opposite side of the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.
Syrian Catholic monk once kidnapped by ISIS consecrated archbishop
Mar 6, 2023 / 15:00 pmFather Jacques Mourad was consecrated as the new archbishop of Homs, Syria.
Aid to the Church in Need ‘greatly concerned’ about Nicaraguan bishop sentenced to prison
Mar 3, 2023 / 17:30 pmThe pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need expressed its concern for the situation of the Church in Nicaragua and for Bishop Rolando Álvarez.
Mexican bishops respond to data showing increasingly fewer Catholics in their country
Mar 2, 2023 / 11:34 amOne of the challenges facing the bishops of the Catholic Church in Mexico is the decrease in the number of faithful in their country.
Order of cloistered nuns leaves Nicaragua after 22 years
Mar 1, 2023 / 15:30 pmIn a Feb. 27 post on their Facebook page, the nuns explained: “We, the Trappist Sisters of Nicaragua, have voluntarily left the country.”
Dictatorship in Nicaragua bans Stations of the Cross in the streets
Feb 28, 2023 / 14:30 pmThe Nicaraguan dictatorship has prohibited holding the Stations of the Cross in the streets the same week Ortega accused the Church of being a “mafia.”
Nicaraguan bishop responds to insults by Daniel Ortega, calling him ‘corrupt and criminal’
Feb 24, 2023 / 11:37 amSilvio Báez, the exiled auxiliary bishop of Managua living in the United States, responded Tuesday to the most recent insults and attacks by the Nicaraguan dictator.
Latin American bishops pray for Nicaraguan Bishop Álvarez at cathedral where St. Oscar Romero is buried
Feb 14, 2023 / 09:45 amRomero was an outspoken critic of political injustice in the country and of the violence affecting the lives of ordinary Salvadorians.
Priest shot to death in Mexico
Feb 13, 2023 / 12:20 pmThe Diocese of San Juan de Los Lagos in Jalisco state, Mexico, mourned the Feb. 10 shooting death of one of its priests, Father Juan Angulo Fonseca.