133days without verified freedom
Since June 29, 2026
Bishop Abelardo Mata, bishop emeritus of Estelí: his whereabouts and situation remain unverified
The IACHR and the Inter-American Court demand that Nicaragua report on his situation and release him if he is deprived of liberty. His whereabouts could not be verified.
Read the storyBishop Abelardo Mata, bishop emeritus of Estelí
Episcopal coat of arms: SajoR (optimized), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5).
836days without freedom
Since July 26, 2024
Father Frutos Valle, administrator of the Diocese of Estelí: more than two years held in a seminary
Police took him after banning the ordination of three deacons. He remains confined in the National Seminary in Managua and is not allowed to leave.
Read the story
The latest on Bishop Mata
Where is Bishop Abelardo Mata of Nicaragua?
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Research by Dr. Martha Patricia Molina Montenegro
A record, case by case, of the attacks against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua since April 2018.
Original illustration: the Church behind bars, its light still on.
“I think of the people of Nicaragua who are suffering because of the attack on the Cathedral of Managua, where the greatly venerated image of Christ that has accompanied and sustained the life of the faithful people for centuries was severely damaged, almost destroyed. Dear Nicaraguan brothers and sisters, I am close to you and I pray for you.”
Totals from Report VII, April 2018 to July 2025. Each figure links to the page where it appears.
1,010
attacks against the Catholic Church
Documented between April 2018 and July 2025, according to the study's seventh delivery.
Report VII, p. 14Key events recorded in the reports, each with the page where it is documented.
2018
April 18, 2018
When protests against the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo began, the Catholic Church opened its temples as shelters, accompanied the victims and took on a mediating role between the government and the public.
Report V, p. 6July 9, 2018
Government supporters and paramilitaries physically and verbally assaulted bishops, the apostolic nuncio and priests during a pastoral visit to the Minor Basilica of San Sebastián in Diriamba.
Report VII, p. 43July 9, 2018
The same day as the Diriamba attack, the Santiago Apóstol parish in Jinotepe was ransacked and priests Eliseo and Jalder Hernández were beaten.
Report VII, p. 44July 13-14, 2018
The parish sheltered more than 100 young students and 3 journalists under attack by police and paramilitaries, who were trapped under fire for several hours; Geral Vásquez and Francisco Flores died in the attack.
Report VII, p. 47December 5, 2018
A Russian woman, Elis Leonidovna Gonn, threw acid at Father Mario Guevara inside Managua’s Cathedral. She was sentenced in 2019 to eight years in prison.
Report VII, p. 602020
July 31, 2020
An unidentified individual threw a molotov bomb at the Chapel of the Blood of Christ, inside Managua's Metropolitan Cathedral, destroying an image that was 382 years old.
Report VII, p. 1072022
March 7, 2022
The government of Nicaragua expelled apostolic nuncio Waldemar Sommertag, the Vatican's diplomatic representative in the country.
Report VII, p. 410June 2022
The government canceled the legal status of the Missionaries of Charity association, founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Daniel Ortega ordered their expulsion from the country.
Report VII, p. 159July 6, 2022
Police and immigration officers escorted the Missionaries of Charity to the Costa Rican border, expelled from Nicaragua days after their legal status was cancelled.
Report VII, p. 168August 1, 2022
Telcor shut down seven Catholic radio stations of the Matagalpa diocese. Earlier, in May and June, Canal 51 had been removed from cable and TV Merced’s signal suspended.
Report VII, p. 162August 4, 2022
Bishop Rolando Álvarez left the Matagalpa curia carrying the Blessed Sacrament in front of the police surrounding it, and asked to be allowed to profess his faith. He was arrested fifteen days later.
Report VII, p. 170August 2022
Police besieged the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa, where Bishop Rolando Álvarez remained together with several priests, and blocked the delivery of food and medicine for days.
Report VII, p. 4132023
February 10, 2023
A day after refusing to leave Nicaragua along with 222 political prisoners banished to Washington, the Nicaraguan courts sentenced Bishop Álvarez to more than 26 years in prison and stripped him of his nationality.
Report VII, p. 221Holy Week 2023
Police verbally blocked, without leaving written record, an estimated 3,176 processions and popular devotion events during Holy Week 2023.
Report III, p. 21August 16, 2023
A judge accused the Central American University, run by the Society of Jesus, of "terrorism" and ordered the seizure of all its movable and real property.
Report IV, p. 251December 20, 2023
Police detained the bishop of the Diocese of Siuna, Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, after he told the faithful that the Episcopal Conference was praying for Bishop Rolando Álvarez.
Report VII, p. 3142024
January 14, 2024
After negotiations with the Vatican, the government released bishops Rolando Álvarez and Isidoro Mora from prison and sent them to Rome along with 17 other priests, deacons and seminarians.
Report VII, p. 3322025
February 2025
A complete overhaul of the constitution established the separation of church and state, and removed protection against loss of nationality for anyone the government considers a "traitor to the homeland".
Report VII, p. 21July 25, 2025
Researcher Martha Patricia Molina reported that Cardinal Leopoldo José Brenes, archbishop of Managua, was being subjected to constant surveillance by government agents.
Report VII, p. 398For the record
Two places in the Archdiocese of Managua bear the mark of repression. The scars can be covered up; the photos stay here.
Divine Mercy Parish, Managua · July 13–14, 2018
Through the night, gunmen fired on the parish, where UNAN students had taken refuge. Two young men were killed, Gerald Vásquez and Francisco Flores. The bullet holes stayed visible for years and were later repaired. The pastor, Fr. Raúl Zamora, was arrested in December 2023 and exiled to Rome in January 2024.
Chapel of the Blood of Christ, Managua Cathedral · July 31, 2020
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the chapel. The image of the Blood of Christ, a 17th-century wood carving that arrived from Guatemala in 1638, was burned and left without a face. Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes called it a planned act of terrorism; the government blamed a candle.
Read the full story →“His visage be inglorious among men” … “a man of sorrows”.
“If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
The research
Go straight to the publications of Dr. Martha Patricia Molina. According to the initiative itself, these reports are the most exhaustive and detailed compilation of the attacks against churches in Nicaragua.
Years of documentation, study by study. Scroll to go through them.
English report (2022) · 2018 to May 2022
about 190 cases
This English-language report systematizes hostilities against the Catholic Church of Nicaragua between 2018 and May 2022, with about 190 documented cases drawn from national and international media and from an earlier report by the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH). It classifies the aggressions into seven categories, led by threats, aggressions and exiles against priests, bishops and lay people.
132 pages English report 2022, p. 6
Keep scrolling to see the next study
Type a question and the assistant searches the pages of the reports. Every fact in the answer comes with its citation, which opens the PDF at the exact page.
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We only write when a new report is published or there is important news about the persecution of the Church in Nicaragua. Nothing else.
Responsible party: Fe y Esperanza (Dr. Martha Patricia Molina). Sinsajo Creators operates the site. To exercise your rights: info@iglesiaperseguidani.com.
“God is faithful to his promise. Despite the pain I carry, I firmly believe that God will triumph… and that evil will be defeated. Amen.”
Saint Óscar Romero
“It would be sad if, in a homeland where killing is so horrifying, we did not count priests among the victims too.”
Homily of June 30, 1979 (translation)
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Bishop Álvarez prays in the street for the police siege of his curia to be lifted
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III Delivery: Nicaragua: A persecuted church 2018-2023
Nicaragua ¿Una Iglesia Perseguida?
Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?
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IV Delivery: Nicaragua: A persecuted church. April 2018 - August 2023.
Nicaragua ¿Una Iglesia Perseguida?
Martha Patricia Molina presents Nicaragua's fourth report, a persecuted church
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