Catholic priests in Nicaragua have been prohibited from entering hospitals and cannot offer those who are dying the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. While there has been no official document recording this prohibition, the news comes thanks to local press outlets and independent journalists reporting to Agenzia Fides.
According to Fides, the alert came from lawyer Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan currently exiled in Texas, where she has been documenting the government’s attacks on the Catholic Church. The majority of Molina’s sources have required anonymity due to backlash from the government over complaints.
Molina explained that priests have always been popular in hospitals. She pointed out that before the new prohibition, priests would go to visit a single sick person, "but once there, the whole room was asking for the sacrament for people who were already close to death.”
Now there are no visits allowed, which has drawn indignation from patients and families alike.
The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is one of the most important of Christ's gifts to those suffering illness. As the Catechism notes:
1532 The special grace of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has as its effects:
- the uniting of the sick person to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church;
- the strengthening, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age;
- the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance;
- the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul;
- the preparation for passing over to eternal life.
Unfortunately, those who find the prohibition on priests in hospitals unacceptable must keep their thoughts to themselves. The report notes that complaints filed by patients are almost always done so anonymously, because if they "complain publicly, they can be imprisoned, exiled, or killed."
Molina described the relationship between the Catholic Church and Nicaragua as “the most difficult” in the last 500 years. She noted that the violence and restrictions on the Church are harsher than they were even during the revolution of the 1980s.
Fides pointed to a Catholic priest who confidently told them that “the Holy Spirit will protect his Church and it will survive as it has survived.” Still, even this priest needed to remain anonymous due to fear of government retaliation.
Aleteia has been reporting on the growing restrictions from the government. In August, we noted that Nicaragua had forced the suppression of more than 25 Catholic religious orders and groups within the nation. While Catholics have faced the brunt of the regime’s fury, Evangelical and Christian communities have recently faced the government’s discrimination as well.
