SW News: The Nicaraguan Catholic Church is under constant attack during Holy Week by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice president Rosario Murillo. Donaciano Alarcón, a priest from Panama, was expelled from the country on April 3 by the dictatorship and is in Honduras.
Father Alarcón was detained by the police after celebrating Communion at the parish of Mary Help of Christians in San José de Cusmapa, Diocese of Estel. He asked for Bishop Rolando Alvarez's release during the Mass. Rolando Alvarez, the Bishop of Matagalpa, who is a fierce critic of the Ortega regime was imprisoned for a 26-year and four months jail term for alleged treason, undermining national integrity, and spreading false news.
In a telephonic interview with the local media, the 49-year-old Father Alarcón who was working as a missionary in Cusmapa, Nicaragua, recalled how police removed him from the Palm Sunday service, put him in a patrol car, and drove him to the Honduran border. They informed him at the border that he had to leave the country and will never be able to enter Nicaragua again.
As part of its latest crackdown on the Christians, the Ortega regime tried to prevent processions during the Holy Week. In the past, Catholic Church organizations like colleges and universities have been shut down in the country.
Meanwhile, Félix Maradiaga, a former presidential candidate in Nicaragua, launched a worldwide campaign of prayer for the immediate release of Bishop Álvarez.
Speaking about the imprisonment of Bishop Alvarez, Pope Francis said it reminds him of Hitler’s dictatorship.  In an interview, the Holy Father called  Daniel Ortega unstable and compared the Sandinista government to Nazi Germany in an interview published Friday. He said: “It is something out of line with reality; it is as if we were bringing back the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitler dictatorship of 1935. They are a type of vulgar dictatorship.” The Holy Father used the Argentine word “guarangas,” meaning “rude,” as per the transcript published on March 10 by the Spanish-language news outlet Infobae.