Nicaraguan priest snubbed by Rome by Timothy Elphick

THE Vatican has turned down a request by the Maryknoll Fathers for the reinstatement of the priestly faculties of Fr Miguel d'Escoto, the former Nicaraguan foreign minister suspended in 1985 on account of his post in the Sandinista government.
Fr William Boteler, the Maryknoll superior, applied to have the ban on Fr d'Escoto, a member of the order, lifted in a letter sent to the Holy See in June last year, following the spring election victory of Violeta Chamorro over the Sandinistas.
But Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has now issued a statement informing Fr Boteler that "until such time as Fr d'Escoto changes his position and is willing to commit himself to obey the canonical norms regarding political activity on the part of ecclesiastics, this office will not take his request to lift the the suspension a divinis into consideration."
Fr d'Escoto himself is also known to have written to Cardinal Tomko asking that his ease be reheard. But so far no word has reached the Maryknoll Fathers on the Vatican's
response to his request.
Fr d'Escoto has recently returned to Nicaragua from a peace mission to Iraq and other countries in the Gulf. Fr Boteler said that Fr d'Escoto had agreed to set up a centre for "the spirituality of non-violence" in the capital Managua after leaving political office. He stressed that the priest had never been suspended from the Maryknoll Fathers and had continued to receive the modest stipend given to all members of the order.
Fr Boteler said that it would be possible for Fr d'Escoto to serve his order as director of the proposed spiritual centre, but that it would be preferable for him to be able to perform priestly duties again.
• Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo of Managua has said that the Catholic church contributed decisively to Nicaragua's return to democracy.
Speaking last week during a visit to the United States, the cardinal said that the Sandinistas had continued to hinder the work of the church through their control of the media since their fall from power last year. "They attack not only the hierarchy but also God the Father, although not as intensely as in the past," he said.