In this issue, we present our Catholic of the Year award to a thoroughly deserving recipient: the long-suffering laity. But if we had given it to a Church leader, we can think of few more worthy of receiving it than Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes.
At first, he might seem like an unlikely candidate. The 69-year-old still lives with his mother, seems reluctant to occupy the spotlight and is known for his eccentric appearance.
As the Crux reporter Inés San Martín put it in a recent profile interview, he has “wild tufts of white hair, which, under a red skull cap, resemble more the wig of a clown than the usual careful coif of a member of the Church’s most exclusive club.” He is famous for wearing jeans beneath his cassock – a sign of his closeness to ordinary people, rather than a mark of contempt for liturgical norms.
The cardinal also has a fondness for jokes that seem to get lost in translation from his native Spanish. Responding to accusations that he is leading a plot against his government, he told Crux: “I’ve been accused of leading a coup. The dictionary defines a coup leader as someone who brings down a government to take power for himself. Well, I’m not interested in power, so I can’t be a coup leader!”
The government Cardinal Brenes was referring to is that of Daniel Ortega, who may be most familiar to readers as the Sandinista leader who overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in 1979 and then ruled Nicaragua until 1990. Ortega spent the next 17 years in opposition, before politically reinventing himself and winning the presidency again. His wife, Rosario Murillo, nicknamed La Chamuca (“The Witch”), is seen as his éminence grise. Cardinal Brenes was named Archbishop of Managua, the nation’s most important see, in 2005. The cardinal and the presidential couple have never enjoyed a warm relationship – and this year relations plunged to an all-time low.
The trouble started on April 18, when demonstrators took to the streets across Nicaragua to protest against tax rises and benefits cuts. Five days later, nearly 30 people were dead. Although Ortega cancelled the social security reforms, unrest spread. Cardinal Brenes faced a dilemma: if he denounced the repression, the government would accuse him of supporting an insurrection. If he failed to speak out, he would abandon ordinary Nicaraguans to the savagery of the security forces. He chose to speak out. Not only that, he also decided to put his own life on the line by visiting conflict zones and seeking to end stand-offs between the police and protesters.
In July, the cardinal travelled to Diriamba, a town west of Managua, hoping to free protesters trapped in a church. Government supporters roughed him up along with his companions, who included the nuncio and an auxiliary bishop, who received cuts to his arm. But Cardinal Brenes was able to lead the protesters to safety.
Between April and August, hundreds of Nicaraguans died on the streets. In September, Ortega passed a law banning political protests, effectively ending the uprising. Cardinal Brenes has always insisted that he is seeking reconciliation among Nicaraguans, rather than the overthrow of the Ortega regime. Yet government media have portrayed him as a coup-plotter and claimed that he is “hesitant” and “erratic”. When he passes Ortega supporters on the street, they sometimes shout “terrorist” or “coup organiser” at him.
Cardinal Brenes believes that the answer to Nicaragua’s problems lies in prayer. He told Crux that he is drawing inspiration from Pope Pius IX, who said “Give me an army that prays the rosary every day, and we’ll change the world.” The cardinal explained that, when praying his daily rosary, “The first mystery, for Nicaragua; the second, for the ruling couple; the third for mothers who’ve lost their children or who have them in prison; the fourth for political prisoners; and the fifth for the clergy.” He has encouraged his clergy to do the same, but many are reluctant to pray the second mystery.
“I have the hope that praying the rosary can move the heart of the people towards a true reconciliation,” the cardinal said, “one that heals the country and that’s best for everyone, not a few.”
There is little that we, in the wealthy developed world, can do to help ease the sufferings of Nicaraguans. But we can pick up the rosary and pray it for Cardinal Brenes’s intentions. That would be a fitting way to honour this endearing and courageous man.
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