Nicaragua has asked the Vatican to suspend diplomatic relations following Pope Francis’s comments about the country’s government. In response, the Apostolic Nunciature in Nicaragua closed its headquarters in Managua. The German embassy in Nicaragua said the Nicaraguan government made the decision unilaterally. The German, French, and Italian ambassadors, along with a representative of the European Union delegation in Nicaragua, said farewell to the Vatican’s charge d’affaires in Managua, Monsignor Marcel Diouf, before he left the country. According to the Nicaraguan website Confidencial, Diouf left Nicaragua on Friday afternoon for Costa Rica. The request was to close both the Nunciature and the Nicaraguan embassy to the Holy See. Nicaragua has not had an ambassador to the Holy See since September 21, 2021.
The government of Daniel Ortega has taken another step towards the definitive break in relations between the Vatican and the Central American country. After the declarations of Pope Francis, who described the Sandinista Executive as a “rude dictatorship”, the Nicaraguan government asked the Vatican to suspend diplomatic relations. In response, the Apostolic Nunciature in Nicaragua closed its headquarters in Managua.
The German embassy in Nicaragua said the Nicaraguan government made the decision unilaterally. Christoph Bundscherer, the German ambassador in Nicaragua, along with his colleagues from France, Italy, and a representative of the European Union delegation in Nicaragua, said farewell to the Vatican’s charge d’affaires in Managua, Monsignor Marcel Diouf, before he left the country. The request was to close both the Nunciature and the Nicaraguan embassy to the Holy See.
Nicaragua has not had an ambassador to the Holy See since September 21, 2021, and it only has a counselor minister for negotiations. In March of last year, the Government also expelled the apostolic nuncio, Monsignor Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag. However, there is still no break in diplomatic relations, and Vatican sources explained that Nicaragua merely requested the closure of the diplomatic headquarters. The headquarters of the Nunciature in Managua was left under the protection of the Government of Italy, through its embassy in Managua.
