It’s being called a successful negotiation between the Holy See and the regime of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. The government in the Central American nation this past January 14 announced that it had released Bishop Rolando Alvarez from prison and exiled him to Rome. It also freed another bishop, 15 priests, and two seminarians and sent them to the Italian capital, as well.
Bishop Alvarez, a prominent figure in the Nicaraguan Church and one of last voices opposition to the Ortega dictatorship that was still in the country, had been under house arrest since August 2022. After refusing to board a plane bound for the United States with 222 political prisoners he was sentenced to twenty-six years in prison in February 2023. The following July, the defiant bishop again declined the possibility of negotiated exile with the Vatican, and in October, he was not among the twelve priests expelled to Rome after an “agreement” between the Holy See and Mana-gua. But on January 14, nearly a year after his sentencing.