Nicaraguan bishop to go to Rome amid security concerns

April 12, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Managua, Nicaragua, Apr 12, 2019 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis has asked Auxiliary Bishop Silvio José Báez Ortega of Managua to serve the Church in Rome for a temporary period. Báez has faced security concerns as a vocal critic of the administration of Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.

Báez said in a press conference April 10 that he did not ask to leave Nicaragua, but that he will be obedient to the pope’s request.

“I have not asked to leave Nicaragua. The Holy Father called me,” he said. “I want to make it clear that my heart has always been here in my land, in my homeland and in the midst of my people. My pastor’s heart will remain here in Nicaragua,” he told media.

The bishop said that he will carry Nicaragua in his heart, but that “this decision of the Holy Father, that I accepted and assumed, has made my heart cry.”

Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes Solorzano of Managua said the pope’s request was made during a private audience with Báez at the Vatican several weeks ago.

Brenes explained that Báez will remain an auxiliary bishop of Managua during the undetermined period he is away from the diocese, and that he will go to Rome during the Easter season, after the busy schedule of Holy Week has concluded.

Báez, who has been the subject of threats because of his outspoken opposition to the Ortega administration during the crisis facing the country, said threats have not “paralyzed my ministry” or stopped him from sharing the Gospel and giving “constructive criticism.”

The Managua auxiliary was among a group of bishops who were assaulted by a pro-government group in 2018 when they went to free a group of protesters who had taken refuge in a basilica the previous day.

As they tried to enter San Sebastian basilica in Diriamba, about 25 miles south of Managua, their route was blocked, and the pro-government groups called them murderers and liars. Báez suffered a cut on his arm, and he was hit in the stomach and robbed of his episcopal insignia.

Anti-government protests in Nicaragua began in April 2018. They resulted in more than 300 deaths, and the country’s bishops mediated on-again, off-again peace talks until they broke down in June.

A new round of dialogue began Feb. 27 at the INCAE Business School in Managua.

Báez, 60, has been auxiliary bishop of Managua for 10 years, and has worked Cardinal Brenes closely throughout this time.

Brenes said that in his meeting with Pope Francis last month, the auxiliary bishop shared about his ministry as a bishop and “part of our social work that he and the bishops’ conference have developed with the suffering people of our country.”

Pope Francis listened closely and then expressed his concerns to Báez, the cardinal related. “The Holy Father has asked him to go to Rome for a while, he has not told him [for what length of time time], but it would not be a permanent matter.”

Nicaragua’s crisis began last year after Ortega announced social security and pension reforms. The changes were soon abandoned in the face of widespread, vocal opposition, but protests only intensified after more than 40 protestors were killed by security forces.

The pension reforms which triggered the unrest were modest, but protests quickly turned to Ortega’s authoritarian bent.

Ortega has been president of Nicaragua since 2007, and oversaw the abolition of presidential term limits in 2014.

The Church had suggested that elections, which are not scheduled until 2021, be held this year, but Ortega has ruled this out.

Ortega was a leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which had ousted the Somoza dictatorship in 1979 and fought US-backed right-wing counterrevolutionaries during the 1980s. Ortega was also leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990.

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The suffering of children wounds the heart, Pope Francis says

September 9, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Medellin, Colombia, Sep 9, 2017 / 02:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a visit to a children’s home in Colombia, Pope Francis said Saturday that we can never accept the mistreatment or suffering of children, who are Jesus’ favorites, and need our protection for a hope-filled future.

“To see children suffer, wounds our hearts because children are Jesus’ favorites. We can never accept that they are mistreated, that they are denied the right to live out their childhood peacefully and joyfully, that they are denied a future of hope,” the Pope said Sept. 9.

“Jesus, however, never abandons those who suffer, much less you, boys and girls, who are his special ones.”

Pope Francis spoke to children, caregivers and teachers during a visit to a children’s home in the Boston neighborhood of Medellin.

Across five locations, the homes provide care and education to 630 children from all over the country who have lost their families through death, abandonment, displacement due to armed conflict, or extreme poverty.

They also care for children who have escaped violence caused by guerilla groups and drug traffickers or neglect or mistreatment from parents.

Founded more than 100 years ago, they now have three homes for primary school-aged children, a high school program which opened in 1999, and “St. Joseph’s Workshop” for children ages 2-5. 

Many of those in the preschool program are the children of women who are imprisoned or in prostitution.

The program aims to create as close to a home and family environment as possible, providing the children with love and affection in addition to the necessities of food, education, and housing.

One young student, Claudia Yesenia, gave a testimony on her life to the Pope. “Hearing all of the difficulties you experienced, I thought of the unjust suffering of so many boys and girls throughout the world, who have been and continue to be innocent victims of the evil that others commit,” he responded.

Despite all of these horrible things, however, there are signs of Jesus’ love for you and desire to be close to you, he encouraged, such as the children’s home and the care of good people.

“I think of those who direct this house, the sisters, the staff and so many others who are already a part of your family. For this is what you do here, you make this place a home: the warmth of a family where we feel loved, protected, accepted, cared for and accompanied,” he noted.

Pope Francis asked the children if they remembered what is written in St. Matthew’s Gospel when Herod decides to kill the Infant Jesus. Do you remember “how, in a dream, God spoke to Saint Joseph by means of an angel, and entrusted to his care and protection his most valuable treasures: Jesus and Mary?” he asked.

Joseph then obeyed immediately, taking the baby Jesus and his mother Mary to Egypt for safety.

“I am sure that, just as Saint Joseph protected and defended the Holy Family from danger, so too he is defending you, caring for you and accompanying you,” he said. And alongside him are Jesus and Mary, who always accompany him.

The Pope reminded the religious and lay people who care for the children of two parts of the Christian identity – “the love that knows how to see Jesus present in the smallest and weakest, and the sacred duty of bringing children to Jesus.”

He commended them and all the joys and hardships of their work to St. Joseph’s protection. 

“Learn from him, that his example may inspire you and help you in your loving care for these little ones, who are the future of Colombian society, of the world and of the Church, so that like Jesus, they may grow and be strengthened in wisdom and grace, before God and others.”

Concluding, he promised to pray for all of them that they may “grow in love, peace and happiness,” and their “wounds of body and heart” heal.

“God will not abandon you, but protect you and help you. And the Pope will keep you in his heart. Please do not forget to pray for me,” he said.
 

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