Ortega and Murillo Send One of Their “Superambassadors” to Pope Francis’ Funeral

Maurizio Carlo Alberto Gelli, Nicaragua’s “superambassador,” led the delegation that dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo sent to the Vatican to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, set for Saturday, April 26, 2025.

In her soliloquy on April 25, the “co-president” and government spokeswoman, Rosario Murillo explained that Gelli would be accompanied by his wife Farah Gutiérrez and Nicaragua’s ambassador to Italy, Monica Robelo.

Maurizio Gelli, an Italian national who became a Nicaraguan citizen, is part of a select club of the Ortega regime: the super ambassadors. Only those diplomats with multiple appointments—at least three and up to nine or eleven—belong to this circle.

The diplomat was appointed by Ortega as Nicaragua’s ambassador to Spain in November 2022. Additionally, he holds concurrent ambassadorial positions in four other European countries: Andorra, Greece, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

Ortega’s “super ambassador” has been accused of attempting to “launder” the illicit money of his father Licio Gelli, a former Italian agent accused of anti-communist clandestine operations during the Cold War.

Maurizio Gelli’s late father was also accused of conspiracy work during the eighties in Argentina and financial scandals in Uruguay and Italy, including the bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, which was reportedly involved in supporting the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Murillo: “Rocky relationship with the Vatican”

Murillo acknowledged that the regime has “a turbulent relationship with the Vatican,” but insisted that “it is neither the responsibility of the people nor the Government of Nicaragua.”

“It has been a time that, unfortunately, served for the usual people to promote discord and send loud, contradictory, and defamatory messages, not only to the Vatican but to the world,” the government spokesperson stated.

“We have made it clear, at other times, that our relationship with the Vatican, although troubled, is not broken, it is suspended, and we consider it important to have our people and government’s representation at these farewell ceremonies for Pope Francis,” Ortega’s wife continued.

On March 12, 2023, the Nicaraguan dictatorship suspended diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The decision was taken a few hours after the publication of an interview in which the pontiff described the Nicaraguan government as a “Hitlerian dictatorship”, of whose leader, Daniel Ortega, he commented – “with great respect” – that he suffers from “an imbalance”.

Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21, 2025 in the Vatican, had taken a critical stance towards the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in Nicaragua in recent years. He denounced the repression and persecution against the Catholic Church, which has included the banishment or expulsion of three bishops, more than 130 priests, more than 90 nuns and several seminarians. In addition, the prohibition of processions, the cancellation of social works and universities and the confiscation of properties, among other reprisals.

“They present themselves as saints, they present themselves as the representatives of God, no. They have not fulfilled that principle of representing God. Much less of representing Christ… Not by the example that the bishops, cardinals and popes who are a mafia can give,” Ortega accused on February 21, 2023, in an official act in Managua.

Accompanying Cardinal Brenes are

In her speech on Friday, April 25, Murillo informed that Maurizio Gelli has accompanied the Nicaraguan Cardinal and Archbishop of Managua, Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano, who traveled to Rome to participate in the conclave to be held in the Vatican to elect the successor of Pope Francis.

The Nicaraguan Catholic Church is also represented by the judicial vicar of the Archdiocese of Managua, Father Julio César Arana, who is known for his closeness to the family of the Ortega regime.

Brenes, one of the two Central American cardinals with voting rights out of a total of 135 cardinals in the conclave, explained that as a cardinal of the Catholic Church he has the obligation to participate in the funeral of Pope Francis as well as in the conclave.

Brenes, 76, was named a cardinal by Francis in February 2014, and is one of 24 Latin American cardinals scheduled to participate in the conclave.

After its last consistory, the College of Cardinals was composed of 252 cardinals, 135 of them under 80 years of age and therefore electors, which set a new record, and will be the most crowded in history, since the rules decree that there will be 120 cardinals.

Delegations at the funeral of Pope Francis

Delegations from 170 countries have been arriving in Rome in recent hours to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, which will be attended by world representatives such as the President of the United States, Donald Trump; the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, the pontiff’s native country; the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; the President of France, Emmanuel Macron; the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski; and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

In addition to the kings of Spain, other reigning monarchies that will be in St. Peter’s Square this Saturday will be those of Charles Gustav and Silvia of Sweden, Philip and Mathilde of Belgium, Mary of Denmark, Abdullah II and Rania of Jordan, and Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlène.

Also the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg, Henri and Maria Theresa; Crown Prince Louis of Liechtenstein; Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, or Letsie III of Lesotho, among others.

After the ceremony at the Vatican, which is expected to be attended by more than 200,000 people, the funeral procession of Pope Francis will travel through the streets of Rome to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for his burial.

*With information from EFE.