The nunciature confirms the acquittal of Pope Francis in front of the poet Ernesto Cardenal • El Nuevo Diario

The apostolic nunciature confirmed the acquittal of Pope Francis for the Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal, after spending 35 years without being able to exercise the priesthood, following a sanction of Pope John Paul II on February 4, 1984 .

Then, the communiqué of February 18, 2019, signed by the Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua, Msgr Waldemar St. Sommertag.

"The Holy Father graciously granted the absolution of all the canonical censures imposed on Reverend Father Ernesto Cardenal, accepting the request he had recently made to him, through the Pontifical Representative in Nicaragua, to be readmitted to the exercise of the presbyteral ministry. " takes note of the communication of the Apostolic Nunciature of Nicaragua.

The communication adds that "Cardenal was suspended from his ministry for 35 years because of his political activism". The monks accepted the canonical sanction that had been imposed on him and he always followed it, without any pastoral activity. In addition, he had abandoned all political commitment for many years. "

Bishop Silvio Báez, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, said he learned Saturday the decision of Pope Francis, who had read the information in a Spanish newspaper, but that he was waiting for the confirmation of the apostolic nunciature in Nicaragua.

Báez visited Ernesto Cardenal last week at the hospital where he is still hospitalized for a kidney infection.

"He is very healthy, he is over 90 years old, but he is very lucid and always very intelligent, thank God, the day I visited him, he was very good and we could talk for a while." said Bishop Baez.

On February 15, Monsignor Báez visited the priest and poet Ernesto Cardenal, who is in the intensive care room of a hospital.

"I visited the hospital to my friend priest, Father Ernesto Cardenal, with whom I was able to speak for a few minutes." After praying for him, I knelt in front of his bed and went to the hospital. asked him for his blessing as a priest of the Catholic Church, which he gladly agreed to.Thank you, Ernesto! "writes Báez on his Twitter account.

On the same occasion that Pope John Paul II applied the sentence to the poet Ernesto Cardenal, he also applied it to the priests Fernando Cardenal (brother of the Cardenal poet), Migel D'Escoto and Edgar Parrales, in because of its attribution to the theology of liberation.