Catholics turned out in large numbers to celebrate Holy Week in Nicaragua. But the ruling Sandinista regime prohibited public exhibitions of faith -- such as processions and reenactments of the passion of Christ -- as it continued exercising control over religious activities in what������Ƶapp becoming an increasingly totalitarian country.

Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa has been released from prison and sent into exile along with 18 imprisoned churchmen as the Nicaraguan government expelled its most prominent critic, whose presence behind bars bore witness to the Sandinista regime descent into totalitarianism, along with its unrelenting persecution of the Catholic Church.

The U.S. Department of State has demanded the release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa and other imprisoned Nicaraguan religious leaders following a wave of detentions targeting Catholic clergy over the Christmas season.

Nicaragua has expelled a dozen priests held as political prisoners as the increasingly tyrannical regime continues sending clergy into exile and cracking down on the Catholic Church.

The Nicaraguan regime has extinguished the Jesuits' legal status and ordered the expropriation of its assets, effectively making it illegal for the Society of Jesus to operate in the Central American country.

The Jesuit-run Central American University in Managua suspended operations Aug. 16 after Nicaraguan authorities branded the school a "center of terrorism" the previous day and froze its assets for confiscation -- actions marking an escalation in the regime's repression of the Catholic Church and its charitable and educational projects.

Following the arrest of a bishop and 11 others, police continued harassing Nicaraguan Catholics, even as Pope Francis called for "open and sincere" dialogue in the Central American country.

Three police patrols detained a Nicaraguan priest at his parish Aug. 14, in the latest instance of the government repression of the Catholic Church.

Catholics in Nicaragua are calling for the release of two priests detained over the past two months as a campaign of arbitrary arrests and church repression continues in the Central American country.

The Vatican called Nicaragua's expulsion of the Vatican ambassador "grave and unjustified" as the rift deepened between the Catholic Church and the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.