Daniel Ortega

The Latest

Cathedral of Managua, Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan dictatorship tightens monitoring of Catholic priests

Mar 17, 2025

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The regime is now keeping Catholic priests under surveillance, checking their cellphones, and demanding weekly reports on their activities. Read more

Bishop Rolando Álvarez in Rome.

Nicaragua lashes out at Vatican after EWTN interview with Bishop Rolando Álvarez

Feb 10, 2025

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The Nicaraguan government has lashed out at the Vatican following an interview Bishop Rolando Álvarez gave last week to the... Read more

“I am not exiled, I am liberated. I do not feel exiled, but liberated,” emphasized Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez during an exclusive interview with EWTN in February 2025.

Bishop Álvarez: ‘I always believed in my liberation and what sustained me was prayer’

Feb 7, 2025

By Paola Arriaza Flynn

In an exclusive interview, persecuted Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez shares with EWTN News his experience one year after his release... Read more

Seminarians at St. Aloysius Gonzaga in 2022.

Nicaraguan dictatorship confiscates seminary in Matagalpa

Jan 22, 2025

By Walter Sánchez Silva

According to a Nicaraguan news outlet, at the time of the confiscation there were at least 30 students in formation... Read more

Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo (left) and her husband, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega

Nicaraguan dictatorship shuts down more organizations, including Dominican nuns

Jan 13, 2025

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The official government newspaper announced on Jan. 8 the “voluntary dissolution” of 11 organizations including the Dominican Nuns Foundation of... Read more

Bishop Carlos Herrera is president of the Bishops’ Conference of Nicaragua.

Bishop expelled from Nicaragua asks for prayers for the people

Dec 31, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The Ortega-Murillo dictatorship expelled Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera from Nicaragua on Nov. 13, a few days after he had criticized... Read more

The Nicaraguan dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his “co-president” and wife, Rosario Murillo, kidnapped and expelled from the country a priest of the Diocese of Bluefields.

Nicaraguan dictatorship kidnaps and expels another priest 

Dec 5, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua has kidnapped and expelled from the country Father Floriano Ceferino Vargas, a priest... Read more

Bishop Carlos Herrera is president of the Bishops’ Conference of Nicaragua.

Central American bishops call for day of prayer for Catholic Church in Nicaragua

Dec 4, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The bishops of Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala are inviting the faithful to participate in a day... Read more

Nicaraguan academic and political activist Felix Maradiaga speaks during an interview with AFP in Managua on Feb. 11, 2021.

Pope Francis’ letter to Nicaraguan Catholics is ‘balm for our spirit,’ exiles say

Dec 3, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

Catholics exiled from Nicaragua are expressing their gratitude for the recent letter of encouragement Pope Francis sent to the persecuted... Read more

Bishop Carlos Herrera is president of the Bishops’ Conference of Nicaragua.

Dictatorship in Nicaragua expels president of country’s bishops’ conference

Nov 15, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The prelate recently criticized a pro-Ortega mayor who interfered with a Mass by blasting loud music in front of the... Read more

A priest administers the Anointing of the Sick.

Nicaragua bars priests from anointing the dying in hospitals

Nov 13, 2024

By Andrés Henríquez

Approximately 10 priests from different dioceses have confirmed the situation to author and lawyer Martha Patricia Molina. Read more

"What the dictatorship is doing is suffocating, more and more, the Catholic Church," says lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina.

Ortega dictatorship in Nicaragua deports group of foreign priests and nuns

Sep 4, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

Lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina has reported that the dictatorship in Nicaragua has deported a group of foreign priests... Read more

The Metropolitan Cathedral Santiago Apóstol and the National Palace in Managua, Nicaragua

Nicaraguan dictatorship shuts down more nonprofit Catholic organizations, evangelical churches

Aug 30, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The closure of the organizations was announced Aug. 29 through the official government newspaper La Gaceta. Read more

Emilio Blasco, director of the Center for Global Affairs at the University of Navarra in Spain, says Daniel Ortega persecutes the Catholic Church because “he perceives it as a stronghold of opposition, of people who think for themselves and that he cannot dominate as he dominates other sectors of society.”

Experts explain why dictatorship in Nicaragua abducts and exiles priests

Aug 13, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The campaign against the Catholic Church dates back to 2018, when Church leaders expressed support for the people who were... Read more

Eleven Christian leaders were sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $880 million on March 19, 2024, by the dictatorship in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua dictatorship sentences 11 Christian leaders to prison, fines them $880 million

Apr 8, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The trial took place in wake of the leaders’ success in bringing together thousands of people to pray in public... Read more

CNA

Dictatorship in Nicaragua uses confiscated nuns’ home as migration office

Feb 7, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The former house of the Sisters of the Fraternity of the Poor Ones of Jesus Christ is in the city... Read more

Daniel Ortega.

Despite persecution, ‘the Church is still alive in Nicaragua,’ priest says

Jan 30, 2024

By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú

Despite being persecuted by Daniel Ortega’s regime for years, “the Church is still alive in Nicaragua,” a priest from the... Read more

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Dictatorship in Nicaragua expels three priests; exiled bishop meets with Pope Francis

Jan 22, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

Researcher Martha Patricia Molina reported that the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega expelled from Nicaragua three priests from the same... Read more

Daniel Ortega.

Dictatorship in Nicaragua cancels legal personhood of 10 Catholic and evangelical NGOs

Jan 19, 2024

By Walter Sánchez Silva

The measure affects 16 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), 10 of which are Catholic and evangelical institutions. Read more

Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Báez, at right in the background, and Father Edwing Román, foreground center, both of the Archdiocese of Managua in Nicaragua, process into St. Vincent de Paul Church in Exposition Park in Los Angeles for Mass on Jan. 6, 2024.

Hundreds pack Los Angeles church as exiled bishop, priest speak against Nicaragua regime

Jan 14, 2024

By Theresa Cisneros

Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Báez of Managua and Father Edwing Román came to L.A. days after authorities there arrested several priests. Read more