Francisco lifts suspension to Nicaraguan priest and poet Ernesto Cardenal

Pope Francis revoked the "suspension to divinis" which weighed on the Nicaraguan poet and priest Ernesto Cardenal, sanction imposed by the Vatican in 1985 which prevented him from exercising his priestly functions.

"The Holy Father graciously granted the absolution of all canonical censorship" imposed on the cardinal, said the nunciature in charge of Waldemar Sommertag in a statement. He was prevented from administering the sacraments for nearly 35 years after the sanction imposed by John Paul II for his political activism.

The "suspension to the divinis" was imposed on Cardenal while he was Minister of Culture during the Sandinista Government (1979-1990) with the argument that his position was not compatible with his pastoral work. In fact, John Paul II – who died in 2005 – made it a reproach in public at Augusto Sandino airport during his first visit to Managua in 1983.

The Nicaraguan poet is 94 years old and has been hospitalized since last week for gallbladder disease. The Nunciature revealed on social networks a picture of Father Cardinal on his sickbed, with a green stole, symbol of the recovery of his clerical state.

Francisco gave way to the demand that Cardenal had recently presented to him through his representative in Nicaragua, to readmit the exercise of the priestly ministry, indicates the declaration of the nunciature of that country.

"The priest accepted the canonical punishment that was inflicted upon him and he always followed it, without any pastoral activity," says the document, which indicates that the cardinal "has abandoned all political commitment for many years."

He was ordained priest in 1965 and founded in Lake Nicaragua a community of artists among the remaining islanders. The punishment came in the context of tense relations between the Sandinista government and the Catholic Church.

The poet actively supported the fight against the dictatorship Somozas who ruled Nicaragua for nearly half a century until the triumph of the revolution led by the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1979. In the 1990s, he resigned from FSLN militancy and is now one of the leading critics, President Daniel Ortega.

Cardinal is considered one of the pillars of the Theology of liberation in Latin America and he's also one of the most important poets Latin American letters. Among his most recognized works are "The Gospel of Solentiname", "The Loss of Revolution" and poems such as Cosmic Song and Prayer to Marilyn Monroe.