Nicaragua’s government said Saturday, July 4, that Bishop Emeritus Abelardo Mata had been allowed to return home, but researchers and Church sources dispute the claim, saying his whereabouts are still unknown. In a statement, the Ministry of the Interior said the 80-year-old Salesian bishop, who led the Diocese of Estelí for more than three decades, had undergone a “necessary investigation into the origin of properties and family ties that are inconsistent with his priestly status.” The statement did not specify which properties or ties it was referring to.
It added that “he has returned to his home, where he remains in perfect health” and that Bishop Mata “has acknowledged that he has been treated with respect and consideration at all times.”Researcher Martha Patricia Molina, author of Nicaragua; A Persecuted Church, told that the regime’s statement was not true and that Bishop Mata had not returned home. “The statement released by the Sandinista dictatorship is a response to the demand made by President Donald Trump’s administration, which calls for the release of the Bishop Emeritus and an end to attacks on religious freedom,” Molina said. “This action should not be considered true.
The bishop remains missing.”She added: “If he is returned to his home in the next few hours, it would not mean full freedom, but rather a change in his status from being imprisoned in El Chipote to being imprisoned at home and under threat.”Also on Saturday, the United States Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs posted on X demanding “the immediate and unconditional release of Nicaraguan Bishop Abelardo Mata, who has been arbitrarily detained by the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship.” The office noted: “Bishop Mata, 80, poses no threat to the regime, and his health is fragile.
Furthermore, we condemn the ongoing and cruel religious persecution and repression by the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship. Attacks on religious freedom must cease.”Who is Bishop Abelardo Mata?Monsignor Juan Abelardo Mata is the Bishop Emeritus of Estelí, a diocese he led for more than 30 years from April 1990 to July 2021, when Pope Francis accepted his resignation upon reaching the episcopal retirement age of 75.
He turned 80 on June 23, 1946. He made his profession as a Salesian on December 8, 1966, and was ordained a priest on August 15, 1976.Pope Saint John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Managua in 1988, a role he held until becoming Bishop of Estelí.Several Nicaraguan figures describe Bishop Mata as a courageous and credible voice in the country. Former Nicaraguan ambassador to the OAS, Arturo McFields, told ACI Prensa: “If the dictatorship is not strongly denounced for what is happening, the regime would not hesitate to orchestrate the death of Bishop Mata, because they harbor a deep resentment towards this man of God for his courage and clarity over many years.”