Fernando Cardenal, ancien ministre de l'Education, directeur du mouvement d'éducation catholique "Fe y Alegria"

Fernando Cardenal, S.J. is legendary as one of the great moral voices of Nicaragua for more than 40 years. Fr. Cardenal, a long-time advocate for social justice and education for the poor, now lends his remarkable energies to Fe y Alegría, the system of Jesuit schools across Central and Latin America.

After completing his studies to become a Jesuit in 1969, Fernando Cardenal, SJ, went to live with a group of colleagues in Medellin, Colombia. People in the neighborhood lived in abject poverty, says Cardenal, and “their suffering became very difficult for me.” His experiences in Colombia gave direction to his life once he returned to his native Nicaragua. He reports telling his fellow Jesuits, “I will dedicate my life to the liberation of the poor and to the struggle for justice.”

Cardenal’s activism led to his appointment as minister of education in the Sandinista government, and in this role he helped improve Nicaragua’s literacy rate from 49 percent to 87 percent—an accomplishment for which the country received UNESCO’s 1980 Literacy Award. He was expelled from the Jesuits because of his participation in politics but was reinstated 12 year later by the order’s superior general, who found Cardenal’s decision to disobey Church directives by remaining in government service to be “authentic conscientious objection.” He now directs a program to aid school systems in Nicaragua. In his lecture Cardenal, assisted by an interpreter, tells the story of his career and responds to audience questions.