Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) are urgently calling for prayers for Nicaragua, amid escalation of efforts "to silence the Church."

ACN's appeal has come after the arrest of a bishop last week, which then followed the expulsion of the country's Apostolic Nuncio.

International projects director of ACN, Regina Lynch, said: "These events represent a further escalation in a spiral of confrontation.

"We are witnessing an attempt to silence the Church in Nicaragua and there is no easy solution. 

"We need to support them as much as possible. We must pray that there may be a peaceful solution and not a further increase in hostilities."

Apostolic Administrator of the vacant See of the Diocese of Estelí, Rt Rev Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa, was abducted in the early morning on 19th August 2022, along with others including three priests, two seminarians, a deacon and a photographer. 

Bishop Rolando is under house arrest in his family home close to the capital Managua and was arrested after he criticised the closure of Catholic radio stations in the diocese of Matagalpa.

The government announced in June, the closure of 101 NGOs, including the Association of the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, as well as the closure of catholic television channels.