The Vatican rehabilitates Ernesto Cardenal as a priest

Pope Francis would have lifted the suspension to the divine imposed by the late Pope John Paul II to the Trappist poet and priest Ernesto Cardenal, former Minister of Culture of Revolutionary Nicaragua (1979-1988) and fervent defender of the theology of liberation of the Latin America; According to a publication of the Spanish newspaper El País.

It should be noted that at the end of this edition, the Stampa Chamber of the Holy See had still not indicated whether the pope had indeed lifted the canonical suspension of the Trappist priest, who since 4 February has been interned at a center. hospitable in the capital.

According to the journalistic report of the Spanish newspaper, the Apostolic Nuncio in Managua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, reported on February 14th to the Cardinal about the lifting of the canonical sentence which had weighed more than three decades against the author of Cosmic Song and Prayer by Marilyn. Monroe because of his participation in the first government cabinet of the Sandinista revolution.

Being a severe critic of the conservative popes of Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II, 1978-2005) and Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI, 2005-1013); Cardinal continued to live the life of priestly celibacy and poverty although he could not administer the sacraments ecclesiastically because of a suspension to the divinis.

The journalist Pablo Ordaz, who writes to the press office, badures that he was instructed to forward a letter from Ernesto Cardenal to Pope Francisco. The letter was put back aboard the papal plane when the pontiff went on a pastoral trip to Mexico.

Ordaz handed the pope, along with the letter, a collection of Cardinal's poems including an interview in which the poet with a white beard and a black beret made glowing comments about the pontiff. "I feel identified with this new pope, it's better than we could have dreamed."

Similarly, Ordaz declares that on February 2, the nuncio visited the poet Cardenal in his house in Managua. During this meeting they discussed for half an hour and, in the end, he asked his badistant, the poet Luz Marina Acosta, to write a letter of thanks to Pope Francis.

However, Cardinal's health has declined since February 4, after being admitted to a hospital in the capital for kidney failure. There, interned, was visited last Thursday by the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio José Báez, who, on his knees, asked a blessing to the old poet.

According to church sources, Báez, close to the poet, told him that the pope would have lifted the canonical suspension and therefore knelt to ask the poet for his blessing as a priest, to whom the convalescent author of Hora 0 -According to the bishop-, "he willingly agreed".

"It was exciting to kneel before Ernesto Cardenal, newly rehabilitated to the priestly ministry, to give me his blessing, he made her happy … His eyes reddened by a tear, I begged him to pray to speak to the Lord for to help us in the difficult times we live in. Everything was so beautiful, "said Bishop Baez in exclusive statements granted by him for Digital Religion after leaving his meeting with Father Cardinal.

Persecuted politician of the Ortega regime

Ernesto Cardenal (Grenada, 1925) strongly criticized the second term of Daniel Ortega, elected in 2007 and in power since in Nicaragua, accompanied by his wife Rosario Murillo; They corrupted the Sandinista party and led the country to the precipice of the dictatorship after anti-government protests that began in April 2018 and were repressed by the crackdown on state security apparatus.

Cardinal's critics of government authoritarianism have earned him more than a persecution on the part of justice. In February 2017, while the country lived a complete cultural embellishment during the celebration of the International Poetry Festival of Granada, the regime resurrected a legal case in which it would have to pay about 800,000 dollars for "damages" to a property of the # 39; archipelago. of Solentiname. The complainant had been Deputy Minister of Tourism in the early days of the Ortega government in 2008.

"I am happy that the whole world is discovering that I am a politician persecuted in Nicaragua, persecuted by the government of Daniel Ortega and his wife. [Rosario Murillo], owners of the whole country, even of the justice, the police and the army. I can not tell you more because it is a dictatorship, "said Cardinal of Granada, surrounded by several poets who accepted him on this occasion.

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