Mons. Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag, Apostolic Nuncio who was expelled by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua was received by Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday, 12 September.
The Vatican Press Office reported that “the Holy Father received Mons. Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag, Titular Archbishop of Maastricht, Apostolic Nuncio in Senegal, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania in the audience this morning,” without giving further details about the event. meeting with the Prelate, who is now sent to serve in these African countries.
Bishop Sommertag was Apostolic Nuncio in Nicaragua from 2018 to March 2022, when the dictatorship expelled him, a measure then described by the Vatican as “incomprehensible”, and which caused “surprise and pain”.
The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has for some time undertaken tenacious persecution against the Catholic Church.
Since his kidnapping, the Bishop has not been heard from again, and that same day he wrote his last post on his Twitter: “Let’s worry about wearing the party dress in the Kingdom of God.”