Work for the release of Bishop Álvarez, USCCB committee chairman urges international community (USCCB)

Lamenting the continued persecution of the Church in Nicaragua, Bishop David Malloy of Rockford (IL), the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, called on “the United States Government and the entire international community to continue to work for the release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, and for a restoration of peace and the rule of law in Nicaragua.”

Bishop Álvarez, 56, has led the Diocese of Matagalpa since 2011. He was recently sentenced to 26 years in prison for his public criticism of human rights abuses committed by the regime of Daniel Ortega, who ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, and returned to power in 2007.