St. Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury in the mid-12th century under Henry II of England, was murdered by four knights in 1170 for resisting the king's attempts to exert greater control over the Church in his domain and excommunicating the bishops involved in crowning Henry's successor.
Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos is the bishop of Matagalpa in Nicaragua and a vocal critic of the Sandinista regime and longtime dictator Daniel Ortega. Earlier this year, Bishop Alvarez, who was convicted of trumped-up charges of treason when he refused to join the 222 political prisoners freed and sent to the United States, said he would not leave the country unless Pope Francis told him to. For this, he has been imprisoned and likely tortured ever since.
Related: Nicaragua Frees More Than 200 Political Prisoners and Sends Them to the U.S.
A parallel exists between these two servants of Christ, beyond their similar ranks: both fought against attempts by the state to control the church.
There is, however, a key difference: Henry II's dispute with Becket did not come from a place of hatred. Henry likely did not even mean for Becket to be murdered. But there is a hatred of the Cross motivating the ongoing imprisonment of Bishop Alvarez.
Ortega's Sandinistas have been persecuting the Catholic Church in Nicaragua since Ortega came back into power in 2007, exiling or imprisoning clergy, seizing Church property and funds, shutting down Catholic media, and cutting off all diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
More egregious cases include a 2020 arson attack that desecrated a revered crucifix in Managua and the shuttering of the Universidad Centroamericana's chapel in August of this year.
The regime rationalizes these acts by claiming that priests such as Bishop Alvarez were involved in a potential coup, and that money going through dioceses and parishes was criminally laundered.
Yes, Ortega and his Sandinistas want you to believe that kindly old men and women are secretly involved in a criminal conspiracy to overthrow the government.
Such excuses were made by Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and all the other persecutors of Christians throughout history who were avowedly secular--and avowedly leftist.
Because the ideas of the left do not stand up to scrutiny, especially when they are being scrutinized from a Christian perspective, these persecutors must denigrate the thinkers.
Honoring God by reflecting His magnificence through grand churches is somehow greed because such projects are naturally expensive, even though churches are also places of charity.
The brotherhood of man is somehow a veiled message of racism, and the idea that a child's natural mother and father, married under the auspices of the Church, are the best people to raise children is somehow oppressive.
On a similar note, thinking babies should be able to experience life somehow curtails the rights of women, even though Christendom lifted women up far more than feminism ever has.
And the sad thing is, people are convinced by this.
Hence why our own Federal Bureau of Investigation authorized the monitoring of Catholics while letting those who firebomb crisis pregnancy centers run free. It is why a monument to Satan was allowed to be erected in Iowa, and why schools are allowing "After School Satan Blubs" to form.
Related: Pro-Life Activist Mark Houck Sues DOJ for Malicious Prosecution
England had Becket and Nicaragua has Bishop Alvarez, but who will be the turbulent priest the United States government wishes to be rid of?
