The Way of the Cross in a parish of the Archdiocese of Managua, Nicaragua. / Credit: El Calvario Masaya ParishACI Prensa Staff, Feb 28, 2023 / 14:30 pm (CNA).The Nicaraguan dictatorship led by Daniel Ortega has prohibited holding the Stations of the Cross in the streets the same week that the dictator accused the Church of being a "mafia."Local media reported Feb. 23 and 24 that the government had banned the Stations of the Cross, a traditional practice during Lent and Holy Week.According to the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa, Father Winder Morales of the Diocese of Granada said that "the Stations of the Cross that we traditionally do on Fridays of Lent can only make its way around the cathedral."A source from the Church in Managua told La Prensa that "after the Ash Wednesday Mass, the authorities [police] arrived to inform them that there was no permission for security reasons to do the Stations of the Cross."The Nicaragua Actual newspaper published the t
ROME (CNS) What matters is the truth and the love that God sees, not what is superficial, showy and self-centered, Pope Francis said during a Mass to mark the beginning of Lent.Lent is the time, he said, "to proclaim that God alone is Lord, to drop the pretense of being self-sufficient and the need to put ourselves at the center of things, to be the top of the class, to think that by our own abilities we can succeed in life and transform the world around us.""How many distractions and trifles distract us from the things that really count! How often do we get caught up in our own wants and needs, lose sight of the heart of the matter, and fail to embrace the true meaning of our lives in this world!" he said."Lent is a time of truth, a time to drop the masks we put on each day to appear perfect in the eyes of the world," he said, and to "reject lies and hypocrisy. Not the lies and hypocrisies of others, but our own."Pope Francis, dressed in the p