Since 2018 the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua has waged an escalating campaign against the Roman Catholic Church, whose bishops and priests it accuses of having incited and sided with that year's mass anti government protests. The campaign has included expelling foreign clergy and women's religious orders, cancelling the legal status of Catholic universities and charities and seizing their property, and the imprisonment and eventual exile of outspoken bishops and priests, most prominently Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa, confined from August 2022, sentenced in February 2023, and exiled to Rome in January 2024.
Facts
Status
Current StatusAs of early 2024 exiled bishops, priests and religious sisters remained barred from returning to Nicaragua, and Catholic institutions whose legal status had been cancelled had not had it restored. The United States government has designated Nicaragua a Country of Particular Concern for particularly severe violations of religious freedom. 2 Official RecognitionNot formally recognized by any body 2 Recognition BasisNo international judicial or genocide determination body has issued a formal finding on the Nicaraguan campaign against the Catholic Church. On 4 January 2024 the United States Department of State designated Nicaragua a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act, and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom condemned the government's crackdown the same day. 2 History
Historical NoteThe confrontation traces to April 2018, when mass anti government protests broke out across Nicaragua and Catholic churches opened their doors to shelter protesters while bishops called for dialogue between the government and its opponents. The Ortega Murillo government read the Church's posture as having incited or sided with the uprising, and expulsions of foreign priests, cancellations of Catholic media and university charters, and arrests of outspoken clergy followed over the years afterward. 2 Consequences
Lasting ConsequenceDuring 2022 and 2023 the Nicaraguan government expelled sixty five women's religious ministries from the country and denied entry to six more, part of a wider campaign that cancelled the legal status of Catholic universities and charities and seized their property. 1 Displaced (Low Estimate)Exiled researcher Martha Patricia Molina's running tracker counted 309 priests and religious sisters exiled, expelled or denied re-entry to Nicaragua since 2018 as of 16 February 2026, more than 95 percent of them Nicaraguan. This is an ongoing, updating count kept by an interested party rather than a closed government or church aggregate, so it is written as a floor rather than a final total, and displaced-max is left unwritten. The Event
When It HappenedOngoing since 2018, intensifying through the 2020s. 1 Where It Happened Victim GroupNicaragua's Roman Catholic bishops, priests, seminarians and women religious, and lay Catholic university and charity workers, targeted for public criticism of, or perceived association with opposition to, the Ortega Murillo government. 2 Perpetrator RegimeThe government of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua. 2 Origins
Defining MomentIn August 2022 Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa was confined by police to his episcopal residence together with priests, seminarians and a lay worker. He was sentenced in February 2023 to twenty six years and four months in prison on charges including treason, after declining to board a flight deporting political prisoners to the United States. Following Vatican mediation, Alvarez was released and exiled to Rome on 14 January 2024 along with two bishops, fifteen priests and two seminarians, one further seminarian remaining in Venezuela, ending more than five hundred days in detention. 4 Cross-Tradition Connections
Article On
Persecuted Group
Sources
1. President Daniel Ortega's War on the Catholic Church
International Christian Concern, International Christian Concern, 2024persecution.org/2024/04/15/president-daniel-ortegas-war-on-the-catholic-church
2. USCIRF Condemns Nicaragua's Expulsion of Arbitrarily Detained Priests
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2024uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/uscirf-condemns-nicaraguas-expulsion-arbitrarily-detained-priests
3. ACI Prensa, "Dictadura de Nicaragua Expulsa a Sacerdote de la Diocesis de Leon: Ya Son 309 los Religiosos Forzados a Salir del Pais" (2026)
ACI Prensa staff, citing researcher Martha Patricia Molina, ACI Prensa, 2026aciprensa.com, 309 religiosos expulsados (2026)View the Source 4. Nicaraguan Bishops, Priests Exiled to Rome; Vatican Welcomes Them
Aleteia staff, citing Vatican News, Aleteia, 2024aleteia.org/2024/01/15/nicaraguan-bishops-priests-exiled-to-rome-vatican-welcomes-them
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