SW News: Yet another religious congregation has bid adieu to Nicaragua. After the Missionaries of Charity were forced to cease operations in the Central American nation in July, this time it was the turn of Mexico-based Religious Sisters of the Cross of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to leave the country.

Local media blame the Daniel Ortega-led Sandinista government for expelling the nuns, who were serving the diocese of Matagalpa. The bishop of this diocese, the Most Rev. Rolando Alvarez, is under house arrest in Managua and his health is deteriorating. For years, the sisters were engaged in promoting Eucharistic Adoration and recital of the Rosary in the cathedral.

On September 22, the congregation issued a statement saying that they were forced to leave the country because of the paucity of sisters to serve as missionaries, the frail health of the nuns, and the expiry of their residence permits. "We thank the Lord for everything that the pilgrim Church in Matagalpa gave us through the love and care of the pastors, priests, and lay faithful who welcomed us with great affection, as well as the good that he allowed us to do for that Church. local and country," the congregation said in the statement.

The congregation was established 125 years ago by Blessed Concepcion Cabrera de Armida. This international religious institute having pontifical rights is headquartered in Mexico City and it counts around 300 nuns who serve in Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Spain, and Italy.

It was in July that the Nicaraguan government expelled 18 nuns of the Missionaries of Charity after closing down their NGOs. They were forced to cross the border into Costa Rica where they were welcomed by the local bishop. Managua also expelled the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag in March.

The Sandinista government is engaged in a no-holds-barred attack against the Church as it is vocal about rights abuses, corruption, and authoritarianism.