Vatican closes embassy in Nicaragua after Ortega’s crackdown

Catholics take part in a reenactment of the Stations of the Cross during the Lenten season at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua on Friday, March 17, 2023 amid tensions between the Vatican and the Daniel Ortega government (Inti Ocon/AP/PA)

The Vatican said it had closed its embassy in Nicaragua after the country’s government proposed suspending diplomatic relations, the latest episode in a years-long crackdown on the Catholic Church by the administration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

The Vatican’s representative to Managua, Monsignor Marcel Diouf, also left the country on Friday, bound for Costa Rica, a Vatican official said.