A Poet/Theologian Worth Remembering: Ernest Cardenal of Solentiname

Ernesto Cardenal, a Nicaraguan priest, poet, and theologian, died last year at the age of 95. Although perhaps many of you haven’t heard of him, he is a man well worth remembering, so I am commending him to your attention. 

Ernesto Cardenal in 2009

Introducing Cardenal

Ellin Jimmerson is one of my Facebook friends. Among other things, Ellin self-identifies as an ordained Baptist minister, a liberation theologian, and an immigrant advocate (see here). She also is highly appreciative of Cardenal, who, she says, had an “immeasurable impact” on her theology.

On March 2 last year, the day after Cardenal’s death, Ellin wrote this succinct explanation of who he was:

Ernesto Cardenal of Nicaragua was a Roman Catholic priest, one of the most widely read poets in the Spanish language, . . . a supporter of the Sandinistas, Minister of Culture during the early years of the Sandinista Revolutionary government, and critic of Daniel Ortega in the years during which Ortega became increasingly authoritarian.

In 1965, Cardenal established a parish on the archipelago of Solentiname in Lake Nicaragua. The Gospel in Solentiname was published in four Spanish-language volumes between 1975 and 1977, all of which were translated into English (and issued in one volume in 2010).

Evaluating Cardenal

The Gospel in Solentiname contains radical readings of the gospels, stating that the God of the Bible is a God that sides with the poor, because God is love, and love can only exist in accordance with equality and justice.

Such was the basic belief of Cardenal and the majority of his parishioners, most of whom were “unlearned,” who agreed with their priest. But he was not so highly evaluated by the Catholic hierarchy.

Cardenal’s liberation theology placed him in staunch opposition to the dictatorial rule of Anastasio Somoza, the Nicaraguan dictator who was officially the President of that country for ten years between 1967 and 1979. The group that led the opposition was the Sandinistas.

According to Howard Zinn, the Sandinistas were “a coalition of Marxists, left-wing priests, and assorted nationalists” who “set about to give more land to the peasants and to spread education and health care among the poor” (A People’s History of the United States, p. 585).

The best known of those “left-wing” priests was Cardenal, and after the successful revolution by the Sandinistas in 1979, he became the Minister of Culture in the new government.

He was chastised by Pope John Paul II when the latter visited Nicaragua in 1983. “Probably the most famous image” of Cardenal, writes Robert Ellsberg in 2020, is the one below showing the Pope wagging his finger at the priest and telling him to withdraw from his revolutionary government post. 

The Sandinista government, which included Cardenal, was also not liked by the U.S. government, which had supported the Somoza dictatorship.

In 1985, following the 1984 elections in which Daniel Ortega was elected with two-thirds of the popular vote, Pres. Reagan declared an embargo on Nicaragua and that was followed by the “Iran-Contra affair,” illegal action by the Reagan administration in support of counterrevolutionary activity there.

Admiring Cardenal

In addition to my FB friend Ellin, there are many who continue to have great admiration for Cardenal.

I decided to write this article on Cardenal after reading Matthew Fox’s “daily meditation” for July 18 (see here). Fox began by sharing how Cardenal emphasized how we are all enveloped by cosmic love and beauty, and he cites these words of the Nicaraguan priest:

God surrounds us on all sides like the air. And like the atmosphere he emits visible and audible waves, and we are unable to see and hear them unless we are tuning in on the proper channels.

Fox also cites words of a poem by German liberation theologian Dorothee Sölle (1929~2003): “Ernesto Cardenal, / questioned on how he came to be a poet, a priest, / and a revolutionary, gave as his first reason / love of beauty.”

Yes, Ernesto Cardenal, who sought to liberate poor people from oppression and poverty and to liberate all of us from that which keeps us from seeing God, and beauty, is a person worth remembering with admiration and appreciation.