Cardinal replies to Ortega’s Church assault

Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, recently openly assaulted Pope Francis and said that the Catholic Church is “the ultimate dictatorship,” to which Cardinal Lvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri of Huehuetenango responded vehemently.

In a video published by the Latin American Bishops’ Conference on October 1, the Guatemalan cardinal said, “It’s true that the Catholic Church is not a democracy, but it has a spirit of participation and communion that makes it possible for all of us who are the Church, from the pope to the lay faithful, to live in peace and harmony.”

The cardinal added, “If you are a Catholic, Mr. President Daniel Ortega, what I would expect from you as a bishop is that you have respect for the Catholic Church and the right order that administers this institution created by our Lord Jesus Christ.

In his address on the 43rd anniversary of the National Police’s establishment, Ortega posed the following query: “Who elects the priests, bishops, pope, and cardinals?

How many votes are cast for them? If they want to be democratic, they must start by choosing the pope, the cardinals, and the bishops by popular vote and Catholic ballots.

“Let the people chose them; don’t impose them all; it would be a tyranny, the ideal dictatorship. The ideal despotism, he said, exists there.

The Nicaraguan dictator referred to the pope as a “holy tyrant” and questioned, “With what authority do you talk to me about democracy?

How many people cast ballots for the bishop in order for him to be elected bishop?

Ramazzini said, “I very much doubt that you are truly a Catholic person,” if Ortega doesn’t respect the Church.

It’s not enough to claim, ‘I’m Catholic, therefore I do whatever I want. I put a bishop in prison by falsely accusing him since I’m a Catholic and the president of a Catholic country.

I am a Catholic who persecutes the Church I belong to. The cardinal said, “It’s a contradiction in words.

The cardinal was making reference to Bishop Rolando Lvarez of Matagalpa, who was kidnapped by police on August 19 from the chancery where he had been held against his will for more than two weeks and taken to Managua, where he is now under house arrest.

Four priests, two seminarians, and a layperson who were also imprisoned in the chancery with the bishop on the same night that lvarez was abducted were also taken away and are now being kept at the El Chipote jail, which is notorious for torturing regime opponents.

Furthermore, Ramazzini emphasized that “dictators often aim to establish a foundation for their dictatorial attitudes and behaviors in order to be able to persuade themselves.”

There is nothing worse than giving half-truths, he said, “since it makes half-lies look to be entire falsehoods. I hope that these remarks might assist clarify views.”