“We live in the midst of difficulties, insults, hardships, persecutions, slander,” Cardinal Leopoldo Benes of Managua said in a July 4 homily. In an apparent reference to government propaganda, he criticized those who “want to diminish the strength of the Church.” Msgr. Rolando Alvarez added his voice, saying that “Nicaragua is bleeding” under a government that has silenced opposition while failing to address bitter poverty.