Mons. Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez, Bishop of Jinotega and president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, expelled in mid-November by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife and “co-president” Rosario Murillo, thanked the Catholic Church for its welcome in Guatemala and asked Pray for the people of Nicaragua.
“I welcome your prayers: pray not only for me, but for the people of Nicaragua, so that one day we can be and see each other together, as brothers, and take ownership of our place, where we were also born. Thank you and I commend myself to your prayers,” said the prelate at the end of the Inauguration Mass of the Jubilee 2025celebrated in the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Guatemala.
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“I want, in a very special way, to thank Monsignor Gonzalo (de Villa y Vásquez), archbishop of this Archdiocese, for his welcome, his prayer, his words of encouragement, since a few days after arriving, he crossed from there , from Nicaragua came to visit me, encourage me,” said Monsignor Herrera at the beginning of his speech.
“Just like the Franciscan community, and you too, I know that when something happens around our Central American people, we are always attentive, praying,” added the Nicaraguan prelate.
The bishop of Jinotega also thanked the local clergy for their prayers and for their help to the “pilgrims who pass through here towards the north, to the different institutions or associations, which have a space, a time to help them to continue walking, as they It happened to the Holy Family too, which had to go through those difficult moments to be able to defend life.”
“And since this year is one of hope, I hope that hope does not disappoint me. Through the faith that the Lord himself gives us, we always hope that the future will be better. Thank you all!” he concluded.
The dictatorship of Ortega and Murillo expelled Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez from Nicaragua on November 13, who a few days before had criticized an Ortega mayor (Leónidas Centeno) who interrupted a Mass with loud music in front of the cathedral local.
The prelate was kidnapped by the police after participating in a meeting in Managua with the other bishops of the Episcopate of Nicaragua.
With the expulsion of Bishop Herrera, Bishop Silvio Báez, Bishop Rolando Álvarez and Bishop Isidoro Mora, of the nine bishops that Nicaragua has, only five now remain in the country.
These are Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua; Mons. Jorge Solórzano, Bishop of Granada; Mons. Francisco José Tigerino, Bishop of Bluefields; Mons. Sócrates René Sándigo, Bishop of León; and Mons. Marcial Humberto Guzmán, Bishop of Juigalpa.
Walter Sánchez 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.