VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In the days leading up to the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis was praying in a special way for the people of Nicaragua, he said in a letter.
Amid upcoming constitutional changes set to further consolidate power for Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his vice president and wife, Rosario Murillo, the pope asked the Nicaraguan people to “not forget the Lord’s loving Providence, which accompanies us and is the only sure guide.”
“Precisely in the most difficult moments, when it becomes humanly impossible to understand what God wants from us, we are called not to doubt his care and mercy,” he said in a letter to the people of God in Nicaragua released by the Vatican Dec. 2.
The trust of the Nicaraguan people in God and their fidelity to the church “are the two great beacons that illuminate your existence,” he wrote.
More than 200 religious leaders and clergy members are estimated to have been expelled from the country. Bishop Carlos Herrera Gutiérrez of Jinotega, president of Nicaragua’s bishops’ conference, was forced into exile in November — the fourth Nicaraguan bishop forced out of the country since 2019.
Pope urges to look to Mary as witness
In his letter, Pope Francis urged Nicaraguans to “be certain that faith and hope realize miracles” and to look to Mary as the “luminous witness” of this trust.
He expressed his hope that the celebration of the Dec. 8 feast of the Immaculate Conception ahead of the opening of the Holy Year 2025 will give Nicaraguans “the encouragement you need in times of difficulty, uncertainty and hardship.”
The pope assured his prayers for Mary’s intercession on behalf of the Nicaraguan people. “I want to say it sternly: the mother of God does not cease to intercede for you, and we do not cease to ask Jesus to keep you always in his hand.”
Walking together while supported by Mary, he said, “makes us persevere on the path of the Gospel and leads us to renew our faith in God.”
Pope Francis emphasized the power of praying the rosary, during which he said the mysteries of the life of Jesus and Mary “pierce the intimacy of our heart, there where the freedom of the daughters and sons of God is sheltered, which no one can take away from us.”
The pope ended his letter by asking the Nicaraguan people to pray with him the prayer that he wrote for the upcoming holy year, asking God to awaken in humanity the “blessed hope in the coming of your kingdom” and invoking the joy and peace of the Lord for the world.
