The "Leo XIV Effect" Being Felt in Nicaragua

Since the summer of 2024, the Nicaraguan government had suspended most priestly ordinations in the country, marking a new stage in tensions between the Catholic Church and President Daniel Ortega’s regime. Suffice it to say, the ceremony on June 7 was unexpected.

On the Vigil of Pentecost, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua, the country's capital, was able to ordain eight seminarians to major orders. This event, although modest compared to previous years, seems to indicate a slight easing of the restrictions imposed by the regime.

During his homily, Cardinal Brenes shared reflections from his recent participation in the conclave, expressing his sadness at the vocations crisis affecting other countries, particularly outside Latin America.

"In some sister Churches, bishops have spoken to me of dioceses without ordinations for years, or of only one ordination after a decade," said the high prelate, emphasizing the importance of "casting the nets" to encourage vocations, comparing priests to fishermen who must persevere to bear fruit, in accordance with divine will.

Before 2024, the Archdiocese of Managua regularly ordained two groups of priests per year. With over 100 seminarians in its diocesan seminary, as well as a seminary run by the Neocatechumenal Way—a controversial movement within the Church—the archdiocese benefits from a steady stream of vocations.

In 2024, nine priests were ordained in January and sixteen in August. However, the 2025 ceremony, limited to the ordination of deacons, contrasts with this tradition, reflecting the restrictions imposed by the regime.

Since the summer of 2024, most Nicaraguan dioceses have been prohibited from ordaining priests or deacons. For example, in the Diocese of Esteli, the ordination of three deacons, scheduled for July 26, 2024, was canceled by police order. On the same day, the diocesan administrator, Fr. Frutos Valle Salmeron, 80, was questioned by the authorities and placed under house arrest.

With the exception of the Diocese of Leon, where the local Bishop, Msgr. René Sandigo, cautious in his attitude toward the Sandinista regime, was able to ordain eight priests in August 2024, and Managua, which also held ordinations during the same period, most dioceses remain under embargo. 

This repression is part of a broader campaign against the Catholic Church, intensified since the 2018-2019 protests against Daniel Ortega's regime. Perhaps some of the clergy have not always been wisely prudent in their systematic protests against the regime, giving the Catholic Church a seditious image and a political bias that do not correspond to it.

A sad consequence: more than 250 priests and religious, including four bishops, have been forced into exile, representing approximately 20% of the country's clergy. Dozens of Catholic radio and television stations have been shut down, the legal structures of religious congregations and Catholic institutions dissolved, and their assets confiscated.

According to Nicaraguan sources, the ordination in Managua could be interpreted as a gesture of goodwill from the regime toward the Holy See, with the president adopting a moderate approach to the new pontificate. "Daniel Ortega is watching how Pope Leo will approach Nicaragua. There is still no freedom for the Church, but there have been no new arrests or exiles of priests recently," said a source close to the Nicaraguan Bishops' Conference.

This beginning of détente could be linked to the issue of episcopal appointments, a major point of contention. Pope Francis had been opposed to the head of state, refusing to appoint bishops favored by the government, leaving several dioceses led by bishops past retirement age or in exile.

"Daniel Ortega would like to see Bishop Sandigo at the head of the Archdiocese of Managua and other priests close to the regime in dioceses like Matagalpa," explained a Nicaraguan priest. By authorizing ordinations in Managua, the regime could seek to regain favor with the Vatican while maintaining pressure on other dioceses where the clergy are considered too anti-establishment.

One thing is certain: the recent ordination in Managua marks a de-escalation between the Catholic Church and the head of state. It remains to be hoped that it will be the prelude to lasting change, as it is in no one's interest for the situation to deteriorate in a country where the Church still represents a factor of stability and a moral authority that remains largely unchallenged.