Pope Francis asked to join to pray for the Catholic Church and the people of Nicaragua on the day of the Immaculate Conception.
“On this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, I am particularly close to the Nicaraguans. I invite them to join in prayer for the Church and the people of Nicaragua, who celebrate the Immaculate Conception as Mother and Patroness, and raise to Her a cry of faith and hope.”
“May the Heavenly Mother be their consolation in their difficulties and uncertainties and may she open the hearts of all so that they may always seek the path of respectful and constructive dialogue to promote peace, fraternity and harmony in the country,” stressed Pope Francis.
With these words, the Holy Father joined and encouraged the initiative of the bishops of Central America who have called for a day of prayer for Catholics in the country that suffers from the repression and persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife and “co-president,” Rosario Murillo.
On 2 December, Pope Francis had expressed his concern for the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, with a letter in which he tells them to be certain that faith and hope “perform miracles . ”
A few days ago, the regime approved a constitutional amendment that further restricts religious freedom and freedom of expression in the country, which are already quite limited. Among the most controversial measures is a provision that requires that “religious organizations must remain free from all foreign control.”
Between 2018 and 2024, 870 attacks against the Catholic Church were recorded in Nicaragua, according to the report Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?, by exiled lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina, which shows the seriousness of this crisis.
The Holy Father also encouraged the faithful to pray for peace “in martyred Ukraine, in the Middle East – Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, now Syria – in Myanmar, Sudan and in every place where there is war and violence. I ask the rulers and the international community to ensure that Christmas can be reached with a ceasefire on all the war fronts.”
The Pope also expressed his concern for those sentenced to death in the United States, a punishment he declared inadmissible in 2018 , with a modification to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
“Today, I ask you all to pray for the prisoners on death row in the United States. I believe there are 13 or 15 of them. Let us pray that their sentence be commuted, changed. Let us think of these brothers and sisters of ours and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death,” said the Holy Father on Sunday.