Vatican City (EFE).- Nicaragua made a request to the Holy See for the closure of the respective diplomatic headquarters, although there is still no break in diplomatic relations, Vatican sources told EFE today.
The request has been for the closure of both the nunciature, the Vatican representation in the country of President Daniel Ortega, and the Nicaraguan embassy to the Holy See, they specified.
Although it would be a first step for the total rupture of diplomatic relations, which has not happened yet.
The decision taken by Ortega would have come after an interview was published on the Argentine portal Infobae in which the pope described the Ortega regime in Nicaragua as a “rude dictatorship”, a month after the conviction of Rolando Álvarez, bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa to 26 years and 4 months in prison, according to an interview published this Friday.
“It is something that is outside of what we are experiencing, it is as if it were bringing the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitlerite dictatorship of 1935, bringing the same here… They are a type of rude dictatorships. Or, to use a nice distinction from Argentina, guarangas”, Francisco stated in said interview.
Relations to a minimum with the Vatican
Nicaragua has not had an ambassador to the Holy See since September 21, 2021, when Ortega canceled the appointment of Elliette Ortega Sotomayor, and only has one counselor minister.
Likewise, in March of last year, the Nicaraguan government also expelled the apostolic nuncio, Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag.
Monsignor Mbaye Diouf, secretary of the Nunciature, is in charge of the Vatican diplomatic mission in Managua.
On February 21, the Nicaraguan president described the Church as a “mafia” and accused it of being undemocratic for not allowing Catholics to elect the pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests by direct vote.