„“The persecution of representatives of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua has been going on for years now. It is time for the European Parliament to take action against the atheist regime’s persecution against religions,” said MEP György Hölvényi during Wednesday evening’s plenary debate on the ongoing events in the Central American country.
Last month, the Nicaraguan regime arbitrarily arrested and placed under house arrest Bishop Rolando Álvarez and several priests and seminarians. The religious order Sisters of Mother Teresa have already been expelled from the country. In the same period, around a hundred NGOs, mostly Catholic and Lutheran, have been made impossible to operate, and more than ten Catholic television and church radio stations have been closed down.
Reacting to the events, MEP György Hölvényi said in his speech, “The arrest of Bishop Álvarez and the arrest of his fellow bishops sends a clear message. Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship is a concrete attack on the Catholic Church.”
During his 2019 European visit, Bishop Álvarez asked his benefactors to continue to support his Church without fear, because in doing so they give life and hope to others. “The people who are suffering need to know that we will not turn our backs on them. It is therefore our moral duty as Europeans to stand up in the strongest possible terms for persecuted Christians. This is what we would have expected during the decades of communism,” stressed the Christian Democrat MEP.
The politician concluded his speech by saying, “We need action from the EU foreign policy. The events in Nicaragua also show that the European Commission must finally appoint the Special Envoy for freedom of religion outside Europe after more than three years.
2022. 09. 15. Strasbourg
