Pope cancels sanctions against suspended priest-poet Ernesto Cardenal

He was banned from celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments in 1984 for refusing to quit the Sandinista govt in Nicaragua

Pope Francis has rehabilitated Father Ernesto Cardenal, a priest-poet that John Paul II suspended "a divinis" some 35 years ago for refusing to quit his cabinet post in Nicaragua's Sandinista government.

Cardenal, who is now 94 years old and dying, was banned in 1984 from celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments.

Nicaragua's newly-formed left-wing government had named him Minister of Culture in 1979. It selected his brother, Jesuit Father Fernando Cardenal, to be Minister of Education.

When John Paul II visited Nicaragua in 1983, he publicly wagged his finger and scolded Ernesto Cardenal as the priest knelt to welcome the pope at Managua airport. "You must fix your affairs with the Church," the Polish pope told him him sternly.

The photo of the incident became emblematic of the now-sainted pope's crusade against Marxist-inspired politics in Latin America.

John Paul suspended Cardenal "a divinis" a year after visiting Nicaragua.

According to canon law, "clerics are forbidden to assume public offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power" (Can. 285 § 3).

Cardenal remained Minister of Culture until 1987, when his ministry was closed for economic reasons.

According to elnuevodiario.com the now rehabilitated priest is in delicate health in a hospital in Managua.

The Spanish newspaper El País said the papal nuncio to Nicaragua, Archbishop Waldemar Sommertag, recently visited Cardenal to inform him of Pope Francis' decision to lift the canonical sanctions. The paper said Cardenal received the news "conscious, relaxed and with a smile."

Although the Vatican has not confirmed the reports, El País reported that Sommertag, a Polish-born Holy See diplomat, has offered to concelebrate Mass with Cardenal. It will be the Nicaraguan's first Mass in 35 years.

Cardenal is one of Nicaragua's most prestigious authors. His works have been translated into 20 languages and he has been awarded the Legion of Honor order in the Official Degree of the Government of France.

Uruguay named him the winner of the Mario Benedetti International Prize this past December.

The Iberoamerican Poetry Awards Pablo Neruda (2009) and the Reina Sofía Ibero-American Poetry Prize (2012) are among the other important awards he has received.