Nicaraguan Police Arrest 80-Year-Old Bishop for Praying for Persecuted Church

Bishop Abelardo Mata, 80, was arrested and detained by Nicaraguan police after delivering a homily asking the faithful to pray for the country's persecuted Church and exiled clergy under the Ortega dictatorship. This is a stark, real-world example of state-sponsored religious persecution intensifying globally — a pattern Scripture explicitly warns will mark the final age before Christ's return. Jesus warned in Matthew 24:9, 'You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me,' a warning now visibly unfolding across multiple nations simultaneously.