Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—The Georgia Bulletin, July 19, 1984
Nicaragua
Expulsion Of Priests Draws Worldwide Protest
BY AGOST1NO BONO
(NC News Service)
The July expulsion of 10 foreign priests from Nicaragua
has resulted in strong international church solidarity, led
by Pope John Paul II, with the Nicaraguan bishops in their
widening conflict with the Sandinista government.
It also has harmed the international image of the
Nicaraguan government, which has been courting Catholic
support since coming to power in a 1979 revolution.
But there are still hopes for reconciliation between the
church and the government, as shown in various
comments by church leaders since the expulsions.
The priests were expelled July 9 in government
retaliation for a church-sponsored march to protest the
government arrest of another priest on subversion charges.
The march was led by Archbishop Miguel Obando Bravo
of Managua, and some of the expelled priests participated
in it.
The government said the expulsions were necessary
because the priests planned to “provoke a confrontation
between the church and the state.”
The Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference called the
government action “a persecution in its confrontation
with the church.”
“It is not an isolated incident but part of a strategy
aimed at weakening, discrediting and intimidating the
church,” said a July 12 communique signed by Auxiliary
Bishop Bosco Vivas Robelo of Managua, secretary of the
bishops’ conference.
Archbishop Obando Bravo decreed 10 days of prayers
in the Managua Archdiocese for “the church which suffers
in Nicaragua and for those who have caused this
suffering.” The days of prayer started July 15.
Good relations with the Catholic Church are crucial for
the government because 90 percent of the nation’s 2.8
million population professes Catholicism. Yet the
expulsions, part of a government effort to stifle domestic
dissent at a time when it is fighting U.S.-backed guerrillas,
has further angered the Nicaraguan bishops and rallied
international church support for them.
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Leading the international chorus was Pope John Paul.
The expulsions “added to the trials already suffered” by
the Nicaraguan church, he said July 11, two days after the
four Spaniards, two Italians, two Costa Ricans, a
Panamanian and a Canadian were ordered to leave the
country.
The pope also asked God “to illuminate the minds of
the (government) authorities so that they will want to
revoke this decision.”
Joining the protest was Bishop James Malone of
Youngstown, Ohio, president of the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops. He called the Sandinista action
“unjustified and deterimental to the cause of justice and
peace.”
Bishop Malone also favored renewed dialogue between
church and government to “reduce the internal and
external tensions of that troubled country.”
Also vigorously protesting the expulsions were bishops
in other Central American countries, Spain and West
Germany.
Criticism from the U.S. bishops is harmful to Nicaragua
because the bishops have been generally critical of U.S.
policy toward that country.
The Sandinistas claim the United States is primarily
responsible for their domestic problems through its
support of rebel groups.
The U.S. bishops have been urging the Reagan
administration to emphasize diplomatic contacts and
economic aid over military action in its dealings with
Nicaragua.
In a July 12 speech to State Department officials,
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago said that “resort to
covert action (by the United States) erodes respect for law
- even if it is done in the name of freedom.”
He also denounced the expulsion of the 10 priests, but
added that U.S. refusal to “provide economic aid which is
needed for humanitarian reasons” undercuts U.S.
“leverage” for achieving human rights goals in the
country.
Meanwhile, the Sandinistas, in an effort to improve
their image with Catholics after the expulsions, named a
priest, Jesuit Father Fernando Cardenal, as minister of
education.
Father Cardenal had been an adviser to the Sandinista
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Youth Movement and one of four controversial priests
holding high government or Sandinista organization
positions despite opposition from the Nicaraguan bishops
and the Vatican. The priests have retained the posts under
a 1981 agreement with, the bishops by which they
suspended their public priestly activities while holding
their non-church jobs.
After being named education minister. Father Cardenal
predicted the Sandinistas would win the Nov. 4 national
elections, the first elections to be scheduled since they
came to power, and the church would have to accept the
situation.
The Nicaraguan bishops, however, in their July 12
communique warned that having priests in government
positions does not indicate smooth church-state relations.
“The fact that some priests and religious hold political
and government posts is not considered by the church as a
sign of benevolence toward it, especially at a time when it
serves only to conceal the true situation of the Catholic
Church in Nicaragua,” said the communique.
Despite opposition by the bishops, many Nicaraguan
priests, Religious and laity continue to support the
government and are active in Sandinista grassroots
organizations. Many fought with the Sandinistas in the
civil war which toppled the dictatorship of Anastasio
Somoza and feel the current government has measurably
improved the life of the poor, who are the majority of
Nicaraguans.
Initially, the bishops gave cautious support to the
Sandinistas - a broad coalition of Socialists, Christian
Democrats and Marxists. But their opposition began
growing over issues of freedom of the press and religious
broadcasting media, treatment of the Miskito Indians, and
a military conscription law which the bishops said was
aimed at indoctrinating youths with Sandinista ideology.
Tensions with the government grew when the bishops
in 1983 urged Catholic conscientious objection to military
service and in 1984 when they asked the government to
negotiate with the guerrillas. Interior Minister Tomas
Borge called the negotiation statement a “criminal
suggestion.” *
The July conflict developed after a Nicaraguan priest,
Father Luis Amado Pena, was arrested and charged by the
government with meeting a guerrilla agent to plan
anti-government activities. Archbishop Obando Bravo
organized a protest march in support of Father Pena.
The archbishop said the evidence against the priest was
fabricated. On July 9 the 10 priests were expelled. Some
of the priests said they participated in the march while
others said they did not. The government said they were
expelled because their residency visas had expired.
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