(TODAY NICARAGUA) The apostolic nuncio, the Vatican ambassador in Nicaragua, has confirmed that President Daniel Ortega has requested a meeting with Papa Francisco (Pope Francis), in Rome.
“The intention of visiting the pope has been expressed to me by President Daniel Ortega,” said the press officer of the Holy See, in a report by La Prensa.
Ortega is one of the three presidents of the Central American region that have not yet visit the Latin American Pope, who has more than two-year papacy.
El Salvador’s Sanchez Ceren, Honduras’ Juan Orlando Hernandez have arealy met the Pope. Costa Rica’s Luis Guillermo Solis was in Rome but the Pope was touring in those days. Guatemala’s Otto Perez Molina has not yet visited Papa Francisco.
“It has been expressed by President Ortega to visit the Holy Father. It’s a matter of time, circumstances,” reiterated the apostolic nuncio Fortunatus Nwachukwu, who since coming to the country in February 2013, has maintained very good relations with the government headed by Ortega.
According to the nuncio, Ortega expressed his desire to visit the Pope November last year, but the trip to Rome has yet to be organized.
Nwachukwu, who served five years as chief of protocol Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI said that a visit to Pope Francisco from another head of state depends on several factors.
Pope Francis, on 22 February 2014, inducted Nicaragua’s archbishop Leopoldo Brenes, along with 18 others, into the College of Cardinals.[
Ortega, who maintained poor relations with the Catholic Church in his first government in the eighties, now has a closer relationship with the priests of the Catholic Church, especially with Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo, but keeps distance with most members of the current Episcopal Conference.
Ortega, on May 21, 2014, for the first time in seven years in office, met with the bishops at which meeting they raised their demands of the population and institutional stability that the president has ignored.
Article originally appeared on Todaynicaragua.com
