Are we on the brink of witnessing another Cristero War in Nicaragua?

The Catholic Church and faithful are facing an increasingly aggressive campaign of persecution under Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo. Since the crackdown intensified in 2018, priests and other clergy have been expelled, religious leaders stripped of citizenship, Church property seized, Catholic institutions targeted, and public religious processions restricted.

Why has the Nicaraguan government gone after the Catholic church so aggressively?

Because the Church remains one of the few institutions capable of challenging the government's authority with a moral authority that cannot simply be legislated away.

In this highlight with Jesuit Father Robert McTeigue, we look at the growing persecution of Catholics in Nicaragua and the disturbing parallels to earlier periods of anti-Catholic persecution in Latin America, including the Cristero War in Mexico.

How will the Catholic world—and the world at large—respond to the Christian persecution happening in Nicaragua? Especially when Catholics are forced to choose between obedience to an increasingly hostile government and fidelity to Christ?