Fernando Cardenal Martínez was a Nicaraguan Jesuit and liberation theologian. He was instrumental in the desecration of the mass held by his Holiness Pope John Paul II during his visit to Nicaragua on 4 March 1983 and in the pope's humiliation by the Sandinista government. Part of his legacy is the participation in a regime that forcibly removed 30 000 Miskito, Rama and Sumee Indians - expropriating their traditional lands and having many killed.
Family
Fernando Cardenal was born into a wealthy and influential family in Granada, Nicaragua, as the fifth son of Rodolfo Cardenal and Esmeralda Martinez. One of his brothers is Ernesto Cardenal, a Nicaraguan Catholic priest, poet and politician. He is also a first cousin of the poet Pablo Antonio Cuadra.
Born in Granada, Nicaragua, he served as Minister of Education from 1984 to 1990, during the Sandinista era. His brother, poet Ernesto Cardenal, also a Catholic priest, served as Minister of Culture from 1979 to 1987. Because of his ties to the leftist Sandinistas and liberation theology, he was forced to leave the Society of Jesus, and, together with his brother Ernesto, he had his priesthood suspended directly by Pope John Paul II, an anticommunist, on the grounds that his roles as a priest and a government minister were incompatible. His suspension was mostly on account of his actions that led to the desecration of the holy mass held by said pope and gross insubordination relating to orders given - one if the vows taken by members of the Jesuit order is that of complete obedience to the Vicar of Christ. In an open letter published in 1984, he wrote: "I cannot conceive of a God that would ask me to abandon my commitment to the people From my point of view, and from my personal experience, it is possible to live simultaneously fidelity to the church as a Jesuit and as a priest, and also devote myself to the service of the poor in Nicaragua from within the Sandinista revolution." Cardenal left political office in 1990, and was subsequently reinstated into the Jesuit order in 1997. In 1980, Cardenal led the Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign, a Sandinista effort that succeeded in teaching basic literacy to more than half a million people with the help of 60,000 young volunteers.
Later life
Fernando Cardenal was a director at the Fe y Alegría organization in Managua, Nicaragua. Through the organization, Cardenal was able to help provide education for the poor in Nicaragua. Since 1997, the year that he was readmitted to the Jesuits, Cardenal was an active priest. He was readmitted after four years had passed since he renounced his membership in the Sandinista National Liberation Front. Cardenal made several visits to Jesuit universities in the United States, such as to the University of Detroit Mercy in 2013 and to the John Carroll University in 2014. He talked there about his commitment to help the poor and his experience as a Jesuit priest and liberation theologian during the Nicaraguan Revolution. He has given several interviews to discuss his involvement in the Nicaraguan Revolution as a minister of education, his commitment to the poor, and the current state of education in Nicaragua which links to his current involvement in Fe y Alegría. He gave an interview to an undergraduate student at Georgetown University in 2014.
Death
Cardenal died in Managua on February 20, 2016. His funeral was held February 21, 2016 at the Jesuit-run Central American University in Managua, which was then followed by his burial.
