Exiled Nicaraguan Priest Asks Christians not to Be ‘Passive’ with Dictatorships that Destroy Democracy

Exiled Nicaraguan Bishop Silvio Báez on Sunday called upon Catholic Faithful not to be “passive” against dictatorships that destroy democracies and threaten people’s liberties — stressing that remaining silent in the face of dictatorships “can make you an accomplice.”

Although Báez did not name any regime in specific, Vatican outlets attributed his remarks to the ongoing situation in Nicaragua under the communist regime led by dictatorial husband-and-wife couple Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

Monsignor Báez is the auxiliary Bishop of Managua and an outspoken critic of the Ortega regime. Since 2019, the priest has lived in exile in Miami, Florida as a result of the ruling communists’ relentless persecution of the Nicaraguan Catholic Church. The Ortega regime stripped Báez of his Nicaraguan citizenship alongside dozens of dissidents in 2023.

ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language division of the Catholic News Agency, reports that the exiled priest celebrated Mass on Sunday at the St. Agatha Catholic Church in Miami. Báez called upon Christians to act as “sentinels of history” and to denounce injustices and abuses of power committed by dictatorial regimes. The Bishop published a transcript of his words at the exiled Nicaraguan outlet 100% Noticias.

“People need watchmen who will speak out against evil when it takes root in positions of power. Remaining silent in the face of injustice to avoid conflict, or looking the other way to avoid getting involved, makes us accomplices, just like the watchman who sees danger coming but fails to sound the alarm,” Báez said.

“We cannot, for example, remain passive spectators while dictatorships impose abusive political structures that not only destroy democracy but also undermine the people’s freedom and their right to be the masters of their own history,” he continued. “And denouncing these abuses is neither hate speech nor an attack on peace. Called by God to be sentinels of history, Christians denounce injustice as a requirement of faith and love.”

Monsignor Báez, after quoting the Bible, emphasized, “a prophet listens to what God tells him and does not remain silent: he denounces evil, warns of its consequences, and calls for conversion, even knowing that this mission may cost him persecution and even his life.”

In recent days, the communist Ortega regime began implementing its widely-condemned plans to reform the Nicaraguan constitution to ban opposition parties from participating in elections — effectively eliminating the possibility of a free and fair electoral event from happening in the Central American country.

While the regime-controlled parliament has already approved the reforms, they must be further ratified in January during a separate legislative session. Communist dictator Daniel Ortega first revealed the plans in July, affirming that “no more elections” will take place in the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the approved reforms last week and announced that the United States will implement measures during an upcoming Foreign Ministers meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) to ensure that the hemisphere “stops business as usual” with the Ortega dictatorship.

Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have been at the forefront of a brutally repressive campaign against the Nicaragua Catholic Church as “punishment” for the Church’s support of a historic wave of anti-communist protests that struck the country in 2018.

The ruling communists responded to the protests with a deadly repression campaign that left over 300 dead. Despite the extensively-documented persecution of Christianity in Nicaragua, the ruling communists and regime-affiliated outlets proclaim that Nicaragua is “Christian, Socialist, and Supportive.”

The Archdiocese of Matagalpa is one of the most notable cases of the Ortega regime’s relentless and ongoing persecution of Christianity in the Central American nation. In addition to the exile of its auxiliary Bishop, its main Bishop, Rolando Álvarez, was banished to the Vatican in January 2024 after spending over 500 days in prison on dubious “treason” charges.

Much like Monsignor Báez, the ruling communists stripped Álvarez of his Nicaraguan citizenship. Reports published in 2025 indicated that the Ortega regime turned the Matagalpa Episcopal Curia’s building into the location of a social security-affiliated company, stealing all of the relics housed therein.