Edgard Parrales, the ex-priest of Nicaragua without forgiveness of the Catholic Church • El Nuevo Diario

Edgar Francisco Parrales exercised the Catholic priesthood until 1983, when he decided to ask Pope John Paul II for his "reduction to the secular state", but his claim did not been satisfied.

"Before the church, I have to be a priest, but hey, I'll always be," said Parrales, a lawyer and academic. For 15 years he was devoted to priestly life officiating at Mbades and serving the sacraments as pastor of the church. Our Lady of Perpetual Help, in Managua.

Edgar Parrales is one of four priests that Pope John Paul II separated from the priestly exercise for defending the theology of liberation and held political office in the Sandinista government of the 1980s.

The other priests are Fernando Cardinal, Miguel of Escoto and Ernesto Cardenal. The first two have already died, but they have received the lifting of the suspension by Pope Francis; who also decreed the end of the sentence for the poet Ernesto Cardenal, last weekend.

Parrales entered the national seminar of Managua at the age of 13 years.

There, he studied for eight years and completed four years of priestly training at the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.

He still keeps the letter that he sent to Pope John Paul II on October 13, 1983, asking him to "reduce himself to the lay state" and release "the obligations and responsibilities inherent in the condition. Priests ".

In the 1980s, Parrales was notably minister of social affairs and ambbadador of Nicaragua to the Organization of American States (OAS).

Is your case different from other priests?

At that time, they told us that they were priests or that they were politicians. Fernando, Ernesto and Miguel responded that they wanted to be priests and politicians. I said politician, already.

I asked for the revolution. I lived the emotion of the revolutionary process, the so-called transformation of Nicaragua, then I said: That moment, I must live.

We maintained friendship with Fernando and Ernesto after 1990, but we separated from Miguel de Escoto, not so much for him, but because he decided to continue with the Sandinista front and we we are separated.

Fernando has never lost the support of the Jesuits. He did not separate from them.

Fernando Cardenal had the support of the Jesuits, a strong and powerful order. Miguel of Escoto had the support of the Merinol order. Ernesto Cardenal had the support of his international prestige.

In my case, the one who should have supported me was precisely the one who called me, namely Monsignor Miguel Obando, who reproached me for my position.

Fernando was restored to his order and died as a priest.

However, before Pope John Paul II applied this suspension, I had already made my request, in accordance with the canonical order, so that the pope could reduce me to the state layman established by canon law in 1983, but never there was an answer and the following year, the pope announced the suspension, which in my case should not apply because I 've had asked to no longer be a priest.

But were you still a priest when the pope suspends you?

I was in a different situation. People did not know these technical nuances. Since my request, I spent time reducing myself to lay status and my situation with (Monsignor Miguel) Obando was untenable in Managua and I asked him to move to Estelí with Monsignor Rubén López Ardón. Two years later, Bishop Lopez went to Rome to go to a synod, and then I asked the bishop to inform me about my case. On his return from Rome, he said to me: I bring you bad news, they told me that there would be no answer, that you obey.

How is this I said. They put the dilemma and I made a decision. I have accomplished the canonical process, I thought it should be like that, I told myself that they were playing with me.

Then, in January 1985, I declared that my decision to leave the priesthood was public and that no one was deceiving me, that if they saw me with a woman, they would not say: go away, the priest walks with a woman.

So you did not obey?

Why would I obey, if I had already said that I did not want to continue as a priest, I had asked for the reduction of the status of layman. This is not a revolt, it is a freedom of thought. I have catholic faith.

I waited for the answer to my request until 1989, the year of my marriage. The answer never came, I had no answer. I spent four years in single after my decision.

Technically, how was your case?

Before the church, I must be a priest, but hey, I'll always be. I recently had a conversation during which they explained to me that the pope had ordered those who had renounced the priesthood to get married could go to the church to receive the sacrament of marriage.

But I married civilly with a divorced woman, that makes it more difficult. My wife was divorced and had two daughters and a boy. With me, she still had two women. I have been married for 30 years. My wife and I were communing. The pope recently said that divorced people can receive communion.

What do you think of the decision of Pope Francis (with the poet Ernesto Cardenal?)

Ernesto (Cardinal) then declared: priest and politician. He felt a priest and asked for respect for them, this news filled him with joy. Pope Francis is a true pastor, his decisions are as pastor, I share it and I appreciate it.

Everyone is talking about suspension to divinis, says even El País (Spanish newspaper). They say it here. In my opinion, they are wrong because, in reality, there was an In sacris suspension.

The suspension of divinis is an excommunication and none of the four has been excommunicated. The In sacris suspension is a ban on priestly exercise, as did Pope John Paul II, implies that you can not administer the sacraments or celebrate Mbad. That's what they did and this measure was lifted.

Where was the pastor?

I have been a priest for 15 years. I was parish priest of Perpetuo Socorro, in Managua, the parish that covered the presidential house, the Campo de Marte, the Military Academy, the national radio and the Hormiguero. I played this whole area.

I demonstrated in pulpit against many and there were many contradictions. Before the revolution (1979), I participated in many struggles for civil rights. I was in the great march that was in favor of the national magisterium in the early 70s. In March, we were many priests, I remember that the guard put a picket of soldiers so that the demonstration does not progress and that people start to get discouraged, then I said to the priests, "put us first" and that's how it is, and we started moving forward. The guard who was in charge said: the priests are in front, let them go. We must have 10,000 people in the month of March.