(Brussels) “I call on the EU to support the mediation and reconciliation efforts of the Nicaraguan Bishops in the ongoing process of national dialogue on the road to lasting peace”. Mgr. Rimantas Norvila (Vilkaviškis, Lithuania), president of the External Affairs Commission of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), said this in a message condemning the aggression against Card. Leopoldo Brenes (Archbishop of Managua), Mgr. José Silvio Baez (Auxiliary Bishop of Managua), and the Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua on 9 July 2018. The Bishop, on behalf of COMECE, expressed “solidarity with the Church in Nicaragua in these difficult moments”, sharing the concern expressed by the Holy Father on the situation in Nicaragua. “Over the last three months”, a statement from COMECE reads, “tensions have increased in Nicaragua in relation to the deteriorated social situation and the electoral process, leading to the death of more than 250 people”.