Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, bishop of the diocese of Matagalpa, held his first public Mass on Wednesday after communist dictator Daniel Ortega banished him from Nicaragua this year.

Álvarez celebrated the Mass in Seville, Spain, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Matagalpa diocese, offering prayers for Nicaraguans amid Ortega’s relentless persecution campaign of Catholicism in the Central American nation. 

“In honor of Our Lady of Sorrows, in memory of Our Lady of Hope, and on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the canonical foundation of my blessed and beloved Diocese of Matagalpa, we pray for our beloved Nicaragua,” Bishop Alvarez said at the start of the Mass.

Álvarez, a vocal critic of the communist Ortega regime, was imprisoned in August 2022 alongside other members of his diocese at the end of a two-week raid on his parish by Nicaraguan officers. Álvarez served as the diocese’s bishop since 2011 and is its ninth bishop since it was founded on December 19, 1924.

Regime courts sentenced Álvarez to 26 years in prison in February 2023 on “treason” charges and stripped him of his Nicaraguan nationality, rendering him a stateless person in clear violation of international law.

The bishop remained imprisoned for over 500 days until Ortega banished him to the Vatican in mid-January along with other members of the Nicaraguan Catholic Church. Álvarez has reportedly kept a low profile since his banishment and had only been seen in photographs prior to Wednesday’s Mass.

During the Mass, Bishop Álvarez read an excerpt of a letter sent by Pope Francis to the Nicaraguan faithful this month.

Álvarez read:

Do not forget the loving Providence of the Lord, who accompanies us and is the only sure guide. Precisely in the most difficult moments, when it becomes humanly impossible to understand what God wants from us, we are called not to doubt His care and mercy. The filial trust you have in Him and also your fidelity to the Church are the two great beacons that illuminate your existence.

Near the end of Wednesday’s Mass, Bishop Álvarez offered his pectoral cross to Our Lady of Sorrows as a sign of thanksgiving for the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Matagalpa diocese.

“I would like that all my faithful of Matagalpa, of the countryside and the city, could contemplate it telling them that from La Puebla de los Infantes, I am praying for them,” Álvarez said, “and I am making this gesture of love for them, for the Lord, for the Church, for the Blessed Virgin. I hope that the Brotherhood of Our Lady keeps this pectoral in her hands.”

The independent Nicaraguan outlet Mosaico CSI reported on Thursday that the Matagalpa Diocese celebrated its 100th anniversary without its bishop and vicars and in a much diminished capacity due to the Ortega regime’s repression and constant surveillance of the Catholic Church. The Ortega regime, which has already banned numerous Catholic processions and festivities in recent years, demands that all Christian religious activities in Nicaragua must first be approved by the local police, who impose severe restrictions limiting freedom of expression and religious faith in Nicaragua.

Dictator Daniel Ortega, who declared “war” against the Vatican and Catholicism in Nicaragua, has overseen a relentless persecution campaign against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church as punishment for the Church’s support for the pro-democracy and anti-communist wave of protests in 2018.

The regime’s persecution has dramatically intensified since 2022, with the imprisonment and torture of several Catholic priests and other religious figures, the banishment of several members of the Church, the forced closure of Catholic media in the nation, and the seizure of the Church’s bank accounts, universities, and other assets.

In addition to Álvarez, the Ortega regime banished two other Nicaraguan bishops from the country in 2024. Monsignor Isidoro del Carmen Mora, Bishop of Siuna, was banished alongside Álvarez in January. Mora was arrested by regime officials in December 2023 after participating in a mass commemorating the 99th anniversary of the Diocese of Matagalpa.

In November 2024 the Ortega regime arrested and banished Monsignor Carlos Herrera, Bishop of Jinotega and head of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN), to Guatemala as punishment for criticizing local authorities who deliberately played loud music to disrupt a Mass he presided over that month.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.