The group will be received “by personnel of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See,” the release said.
The Vatican’s office of communications released a statement Thursday afternoon confirming that the Holy See had been asked to receive the priests.
“I can confirm that the Holy See has been asked to receive 12 priests from Nicaragua who were recently released from prison. The Holy See has agreed; they will be received by an official of the Secretariat of State in the afternoon and housed in some facilities of the Diocese of Rome,” read the statement from Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office of the Roman Curia.
The Vatican did not respond in time for publication to requests from ACI Prensa and CNA to confirm whether the Holy See was involved in arranging for the release of the priests.
The released priests are Father Manuel Salvador García Rodríguez and Father José Leonardo Urbina Rodríguez from the Diocese of Granada; Father Jaime Iván Montesinos Sauceda from the Diocese of Matagalpa; and Father Fernando Israel Zamora Silva from the Diocese of Siuna.
Also released are Father Osman José Amador Guillén, Father Julio Ricardo Norori Jiménez, Father José Iván Centeno Tercero, Father Yessner Cipriano Pineda Meneses, Father Álvaro José Toledo Amador, and Father Eugenio Rodríguez Benavidez, all from the Diocese of Estelí.