Nuns from the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), left Nicaragua on Wednesday July 6, a week after authorities declared their activities illegal, according to the NGO. President Daniel “Ortega, the very one who welcomed Mother Teresa of Calcutta in the 1980s, is the one who kicked her religious order out of the country.”, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) said on Twitter on Wednesday. According to this source, the fifteen nuns were expelled as they were “criminals”.
Last week, the assembly was declared illegal by the parliament, which is controlled by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, ex-guerrilla), as well as hundreds of NGOs, arguing that they broke the law by failing to disclose their finances and explain the proceeds. origin of donations. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees NGOs and which demanded the cancellation of more than 700 of these organizations, the Missionaries of Charity were not accredited to carry out social assistance activities. Cardinal of Nicaragua and Archbishop of Managua Leopoldo Brenes regretted. “deeply” the closing of this fund on Monday, which provided “Helping the less fortunate”.
the daily newspaper La Prensa noted that nuns from several countries had left Nicaragua via the land border with Costa Rica. The government did not comment on the subject. It is the latest example of rising tensions between Ortega’s government and the Catholic Church since 2018, when several religious institutions offered shelter to protesters amid crackdowns by social movements. They were subjected to bloody repression, according to human rights organizations, with at least 355 dead, 2,000 wounded, half a thousand prisoners and tens of thousands exiled.
Daniel Ortega, a former guerrilla in power since 2007, blamed the protests on a failed US-backed opposition coup and accused church officials of a conspiracy. Valdemar Stanislav Sommertag, apostolic nuncio (Vatican ambassador) to Nicaragua, was deported in March. The Vatican said it had received it “With great surprise and great regret” notice that the government has withdrawn its accreditation from Bishop Somertag, “Forcing him to leave the country immediately.”.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.