HAVANA, March 12. /TASS/. The Nicaraguan foreign ministry said on Sunday that Nicaragua is suspending diplomatic relations with Vatican City.

"Based on the data disclosed by sources obviously linked with the Catholic Church, Nicaragua’s Government of Reconciliation and National Unity <…> specifies that diplomatic relations between Nicaragua and the Vatican City State have been suspended," it said.

Reuters reported earlier in the day citing its sources in Vatican City that Nicaragua has decided to close Vatican’s embassy in Managua and its embassy in the Holy See after Pope Francis’ remarks where he compared Nicaragua’s government with a dictatorship.

In February, Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos of Matagalpa was sentenced to 26 years in prison in Nicaragua for alleged conspiracy to undermine the national integrity and for spreading fake news "to the prejudice of the Nicaraguan state and society".