The Panamanian priest Donaciano Alarcón assured this Wednesday that was expelled from Nicaragua after the police authorities of that country They will accuse him of preaching in favor of the Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced to more than 26 years for alleged crimes considered “treason.”
“On (Holy) Monday we had the Chrism Mass and it was there that they told me that he had been preaching in favor of Monsignor Álvarez, who had been organizing some revolts against the Police, that he was disobeying the stipulations: zero processions”, the religious declared to journalists from the Honduran city of San Pedro de Sula, where he is located.
“The accusation was false. I told them no and they told me: well, this can be cause for expulsion because a rule has already been set and you are not complying with it, ”she said.
Alarcón was expelled from Nicaragua to Honduras after celebrating the Eucharist on Monday to mark the start of Holy Week. The Chrism Mass was held in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Estelí, and was presided over by Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes.
“I celebrated the Chrism Mass and when I left the mass, they (the police) were waiting for me and they took me out of my other companion’s car. They put me in a patrol and took me to the border ”with Honduras, he recounted.
Priests must mention the pope and bishops
In his opinion, his expulsion was due to mentioning in his homilies “Monsignor Álvarez, who you know is is a political prisoner for them (the government of President Daniel Ortegaand) that can be misinterpreted.”
He explained that during the liturgies, priests should pray for Pope Francis and for the bishops.
“We have to mention them, even if that bothers us. It may be that (the cause of his expulsion),” she noted.
“Or it may be, and I am going to admit it publicly, that I have been reckless in some homily without realizing it,” he added.
On February 10, Bishop Álvarez, 56, was sentenced to 26 years and four months in prison, stripped of his nationality, and suspended their citizenship rights for lifefor crimes considered “treason to the homeland”.
The sentence against the high official was handed down a day after he refused to get on a plane that was going to take him, along with 222 other released Nicaraguan political prisoners, to the United States, which provoked the indignation of President Ortega, who described it as ” arrogant”, “unhinged” and “energetic”.
One day after Ortega’s speech, and despite the fact that the trial was scheduled for February 15, a Nicaraguan judge declared the religious a traitor to the country and author of four crimes to the detriment of society and the State of Nicaragua.
Church in Nicaragua suffers “restrictions”
On the other hand, the Panamanian priest confirmed that there are “restrictions” in Nicaragua for the Catholic Church.
“There are restrictions. We cannot have processions (in the streets), and you have to be very careful what you talk about, ”he said.
He clarified, however, that the Nicaraguan authorities have not prevented them from celebrating Eucharists, their priestly formations, “or being with the people, only public demonstrations.”
He explained that the authorities restricted the processions in the Nicaraguan streets during Holy Week, because “they do not want public demonstrations.”
Despite these limitations, assured that Pope Francis encourages them to continue “with the people and to emphasize fraternity”, and, in his case, although he was expelled by the Government of Nicaragua, “not even they are my enemies.”
Alarcón, who was in charge of the parishes in the municipalities of San José de Cusmapa and Las Sábanas, both in the department of Madriz, on the border with Honduras, said that he has avoided having contact with the Nicaraguan faithful “because we have to protect our people ”.
He also stated that the Hondurans received him very well after being expelled from Nicaragua, where the authorities warned him that “he could no longer enter Nicaragua,” that it was “a decision of the State,” but that he was not mistreated.
Relations between the Government of Daniel Ortega and the Catholic Church are now experiencing moments of great tension, marked by the expulsion and imprisonment of priests, or the prohibition of religious activities.
President Ortega has called priests, bishops, cardinals and Pope Francis, who has been called a “rude dictatorship” to the Sandinista government and has pointed out “an imbalance of the person who leads” the Central American country, one of the poorest on the continent.