Nicaragua closes Vatican embassy in Managua, Nicaraguan embassy to Vatican - source

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has ordered the closure of the Vatican embassy in Managua and that of the Nicaraguan embassy to the Vatican in Rome, a senior Vatican source said on Sunday.

The move by Nicaragua comes a few days after Pope Francis, speaking in an interview ahead of Monday's tenth anniversary of his election, compared the Nicaraguan government to a dictatorship.

The source said that while the closures do not automatically mean a total break of relations between Managua and the Holy See, they are serious steps towards that possibility.