Nicaragua Expels ‘Mother Theresa’ Nuns
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (Worthy News) – Nuns from the order founded by the late Mother Teresa have been expelled from Nicaragua amid a broader crackdown on perceived church opponents of the country’s autocratic President Daniel Ortega, Catholic sources confirmed.
The two nuns, both Costa Rican citizens, spent their first Sunday outside Nicaragua after they arrived in their home country on Wednesday, according to the Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia.
Sister Isabel and Sister Cecilia Blanco Cubillo, from the congregation Dominicas de la Anunciata, ran a nursing home in Nicaragua.
But their organization was stripped of its legal status, Catholic officials said.
Bishop Manuel Eugenio Salazar Mora of the Diocese of Tilarán-Liberia asked for prayers for the suffering Church.
He also urged prayers for Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa, who was imprisoned in February after he was sentenced to more than 26 years in jail. The authorities accused him of “undermining the state and society“and allegedly spreading “false news.”
Catholic sources say dozens of representatives of the Catholic Church have been expelled from Nicaragua since the re-election of Ortega in 2021.
TRAPPIST MONASTERY
Critics say it is an effort to silence criticism against the government’s “democratic backslide.”
Ahead of last week’s expulsion of the two Costa Rican nuns, the Nicaraguan government also confiscated a Trappist Monastery in San Pedro de Lovago, Vatican Radio reported.
The property was handed it over to the Institute of Agricultural Technology, Catholic sources said.
The Trappist nuns reportedly left the monastery in February after arriving in the nation from Argentina over twenty years ago.
The Ortega government also oversaw the arrest of some 20 people this Easter season and expelled this Panamanian Claretian missionary, priest Donaciano Alarcón, for praying for bishop Rolando Álvarez, Catholic representatives said.
The Easter period was also difficult for other Christians as President Ortega banned public events, including all Catholic “Holy Week processions.”
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