During his trip to Rome, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes discussed the situation in Nicaragua. He says that he is not discouraged despite the religious persecution taking place in his country.
CARD. LEOPOLDO JOSÉ BRENES
Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua
In our preaching as pastors in Nicaragua, we want to be pastors who announce hope. The Holy Father has always told us that we cannot look backward in the face of problems, but that we must always look forward. And that is what the bishops of Nicaragua and also of Central America have done.
The cardinal believes that dialogue between the Church and Daniel Ortega's Government is still possible. Recently, the Nicaraguan president called the Pope a 'holy tyrant,' and referred to the the Church as 'the perfect dictatorship.'
CARD. LEOPOLDO JOSÉ BRENES
Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua
The Gospel tells us that we should always pray for those who criticize us, who say things against us, and generally we seek to have a quiet heart before those things and pray.
Dialogue should never stop. We have experience of this in Nicaragua because there have been different wars and there was dialogue. And I remember that, at one time, one side was in one room and another side was in another, and the bishops were running back and forth like angels bringing the news.
In recent weeks, several priests have been deported from Nicaragua or prohibited from re-entering their country after leaving on a trip. Cardinal Brenes calls on the Nicaraguan religious community in exile to rediscover how they can keep serving God away from their homeland.
CARD. LEOPOLDO JOSÉ BRENES
Archbishop of Managua, Nicaragua
We want to see what the Lord is asking of us, because no priest will be able to return to Nicaragua. But what are they discovering and what are we discovering? That maybe the Lord is giving them another mission
Cardinal Brenes participated with other representatives of Latin American bishops' conferences in Rome to present the Vatican with their results of the local phase of the ongoing synod.
RM
TR: JM
