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The Nicaraguan dictatorship detained and released a retired bishop Jun. 29 after a hospital visit.
Bishop Abelardo Mata, SDB. Credit: Confidencial 30 via YouTube.Eighty-year-old Bishop Abelardo Mata, SDB, emeritus Bishop of Estelí, was held in police custody for several hours on Monday after celebrating Mass in his former diocese, during which he asked the faithful to pray for the persecuted Church in Nicaragua and for Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who has lived in exile in Rome since 2024 after spending more than a year in prison on conspiracy charges.
Mata was taken from a hospital, where he was undergoing a checkup related to his pacemaker, and brought to a regime prison, where he was held for several hours.
Local outlet La Prensa reported that the regime had barred Mata from returning to his diocese and celebrating Mass there, but that the retired bishop defied the ban, arriving in Estelí on Thursday, June 25, and celebrating Mass publicly on Sunday, June 28.
According to La Prensa, Mata asked for prayers for the “persecuted Church in Nicaragua, for Bishop Rolando Álvarez and Fr. Frutos Valle Salmerón” during Mass.
Fr. Frutos Valle Salmerón was appointed diocesan administrator in Estelí in 2022 after the imprisonment of Bishop Álvarez, who
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