“I believe that throughout the world the situation of Bishop Rolando Álvarez is known; we are placing his life, his ministry, in the hands of the Lord,” he continued.

Álvarez was sentenced Feb. 10 to 26 years and four months in prison, accused by the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, of “treason against the homeland.”

Recently, the prelate was briefly released from the “La Modelo” prison and there was speculation about his leaving the country. However, the negotiations failed and he was returned to prison on July 5.

Regarding the sentence imposed on Álvarez, Canales stressed that “it’s a very ridiculous situation.”

“I’m telling you as a lawyer, because I’m a legal professional, that it left me perplexed,” he said.

“Everyone knows … that he refused to be put on that plane to go into exile, because the next day the revenge was precisely that sentence, which has no legal basis,” he said.

Canales was referring to Álvarez’s decision to refuse to join the group of 222 former political prisoners deported to the United States on Feb. 9, one day before he was sentenced for treason.

After emphasizing that the regime knows that “the figure of Bishop Rolando Álvarez is very strong, no longer at the national level, but that they themselves have catapulted him, and he is an international figure of resistance today,” Canales expressed his concern for the safety of his brother bishop in prison.

Regarding the persecution by the Ortega dictatorship against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, with the imprisonment of priests, the expulsion of women religious, the confiscation of assets and universities, and the closure of Caritas — an institution that helps the poorest people — Canales noted that “uprooting people's faith is something that historically has never been possible.”

“On the contrary, the more people feel attacked, their spiritual values attacked, the deeper they go and they become even stronger. That has been going on for 2,000 years,” he said.

Canales encouraged Nicaraguans to not forget that “when there is a Good Friday like the one you are going through today, that Way of the Cross, do not forget that there will be Easter Sunday. That is our faith.”--CNA