Mons. Silvio Báez, Auxiliary Bishop of Managua (Nicaragua), in exile for some years, expressed his joy at the appointment of Mons. Rolando Álvarez, exiled to Rome in January of this year, to participate in the Synod of Synodality in the Vatican.
Mons. Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa and Apostolic Administrator of Estelí, has been appointed by Pope Francis to participate in the Synod of Synodality, whose second session will be held in the Vatican from October 2 to 27.
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“I am very happy that the Holy Father has appointed my brother bishop, Mons. Rolando J. Álvarez, to participate in the 2nd. stage of the Synod on Synodality,” the prelate wrote in his account la red social X.
“His personal and pastoral experience will undoubtedly greatly enrich the synodal reflection. “I accompany him with my prayer,” she added.
For his part, Arturo McFields Yescas, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the OAS, described the pontifical appointment as “great news” and prayed that “God continue to bless this warrior of faith from #Nicaragua,” in reference to Mons. Álvarez.
Who is Bishop Rolando Álvarez?
Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, 57, was appointed Bishop of Matagalpa in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI. His fierce defense of human rights against the abuses of the regime—especially during the civil demonstrations of 2018—earned him the persecution of dictator Daniel Ortega.
Bishop Álvarez was forced to remain confined inside his episcopal house since the beginning of August 2022, along with priests, seminarians and a layman.
Two weeks later, when they had almost run out of food, the police broke into the house and kidnapped Mons. Álvarez to Managua, the country’s capital.
In the midst of a questioned process, the dictatorship sentenced him on February 10, 2023 to 26 years and four months in prison, accusing him of “traitor to the country.” Since then, he was held in La Modelo prison, where political prisoners are sent.
One day before being sentenced, Bishop Álvarez had refused to get on a plane on which the dictatorship deported more than 200 political prisoners to the United States.
The Nicaraguan prelate was finally deported to Rome on January 14, 2024, after mediation by the Vatican, along with the Bishop of Siuna, Mons. Isidoro Mora – who before being bishop worked in the diocese of Matagalpa –, other priests and seminarians.
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.