'I am a Revolutionary': Father Ernesto Cardenal at NYT

On the eve of a new collection of his poetry, Ninety at Ninety, The New York Times celebrates Father Ernesto Cardenal's life and work.

MEXICO CITY — ERNESTO CARDENAL is a poet and a priest, a revolutionary and a mystic. His poetry speaks of Marilyn Monroe and Charles Darwin, of Spanish conquistadors and pre-Columbian gods. Science saturates his writing.

“Science brings me close to God because it describes the universe and creation, and that brings me close to the creator,” said Nicaragua’s most prominent living poet in an interview a few weeks before his 90th birthday. “For me this is a prayer.”

As he reaches the twilight of his life, Father Cardenal is being celebrated with a new anthology of his poems: “Ninety at Ninety.”

Many of those works emanate from 20th-century struggles: a commitment to social justice rooted in faith and a fight for national sovereignty. The language may sound a little dated in English, but not in Spanish.

“I am a revolutionary,” Father Cardenal declared with vigor. “Revolutionary means that I want to change the world.”

He has been fighting for change since the 1950s, in an early aborted revolt against the brutal, kleptocratic Somoza dynasty, in his poetry and then as part of the left-wing Sandinista uprising in 1979 that overthrew Anastasio Somoza Debayle. He was long at odds with the Vatican hierarchy, staying faithful to the doctrine of liberation theology as Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI remade the Roman Catholic Church in their conservative mold. Long disillusioned by the Sandinistas, however, he is now an outspoken opponent. [...]

Keep reading at NYT.