Catholics in Nicaragua celebrated Holy Week with restrictions around churches, given the government ban that has governed traditional street processions for two years. The police must authorize all public activities, including religious activities.
Holy Week celebrations took place amid tensions between the Catholic Church and Daniel Ortega’s government, after 20 priests and seminarians were arrested during the Christmas and New Year festivities, released on January 14 and sent to Rome as part of an agreement with the Vatican.
Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes led Stations of the Cross in the cathedral. He told AFP, "I believe that the important thing is not so much how far we can walk, but how we walk (...) Big things sometimes come in small vessels.”
According to a report by Infobae, at least 4,000 police officers were deployed this Holy Week around Catholic churches to prevent religious processions from taking place in the streets. Meanwhile, the dictatorship promoted activities under the guise of popular traditions.
"Some 400 parishes in the country received police notifications prohibiting them from taking to the streets with the traditional Holy Week religious processions, according to lawyer Martha Patricia Molina, who has dedicated the last few years to investigating and exposing the persecution suffered by the Catholic Church in Nicaragua," Infobae reported.
The situation comes at a time when persecution against Christians is worsening. Although Asia and Africa notably lead the list of countries where life is most difficult for Christians, countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Colombia and Nicaragua are among the 50 countries with the most persecution.
