The Nicaraguan government, led by President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, has canceled church-led Lent and Easter celebrations for the second consecutive year, replacing them with government-run events. This move is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to exert control over the Catholic Church, according to exiled Nicaraguan leader Felix Maradiaga. The government has exiled hundreds of priests, pastors, and other religious figures, leaving many communities without leadership. In November 2024, the regime demanded that nuns leave the country by December.
Maradiaga compared the Sandinista government’s model to China’s approach, where parallel government-run churches promote government propaganda under the guise of religious instruction. The Nicaraguan government is expected to host its own Holy Week festivities in some municipalities while preventing the church from organizing its own events. Priests are already under pressure, with some required to report to the police for weekly interrogations and government approval of their sermons.
The government’s actions have raised concerns about religious freedom in Nicaragua. Maradiaga believes the government will continue to pressure the Catholic Church until it obtains a bishops’ conference aligned with the regime’s ideology. Despite this, Maradiaga expressed confidence that the government would ultimately fail in its efforts to control the Church. The Vatican has been critical of the Ortega-Murillo regime, and tensions between the two have escalated in recent months.