(February 5, 1933 – June 8, 2017) was an American-born Nicaraguan diplomat, politician and Catholic priest of the Maryknoll Missionary Society.

[9] D'Escoto felt called to serve as priest and entered the seminary of the Maryknoll Missionary Society in 1953.

He earned a Master of Science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism the following year,[10] and was a key figure in the founding of the Maryknoll publishing house, Orbis Books, in 1970.

D'Escoto formed the Nicaraguan Foundation for Integral Community Development (FUNDECI) in January 1973 to promote a nongovernmental response to the displacement of thousands in the December 1972 Managua earthquake.

[12][13] On August 5, 2014, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had reinstated D'Escoto as a priest after he had been suspended for thirty years for taking up office in Nicaragua's left-wing Sandinista government.

[14] D'Escoto first publicly expressed support for the FSLN as one of Los Doce, in October 1977, and was appointed foreign minister after the Sandinista triumph in 1979.

[4] During a visit to Central America, Pope John Paul II publicly admonished him for his political activity.

[18] On March 3, 1986, D'Escoto gave a speech on Nicaraguan television publicly insulting and condemning Cardinal Obando for not siding with the Sandinista regime against the Contras: "There is no word uttered by human mouth, no adjective that we could use to truly describe the horror produced by this brother of ours.

"[citation needed] After the Sandinistas lost the 1990 Nicaraguan general election, D'Escoto led the Communal Movement but resigned that post in December 1991 after his support within the organization waned.

[25] D'Escoto criticised the veto power wielded by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad responded: "We have been assured that a page has been turned and that he understands his new responsibilities.... We will wait and see.

We have made it clear that these crazy comments are not acceptable, and we hope he refrains from this talk and gets to work on General Assembly business.

"[29] The Israeli ambassador also criticised D'Escoto for attending a dinner marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan with a number of Middle Eastern leaders, including Ahmadinejad.

[30] US ambassador Susan Rice claimed that he did not possess the proper diplomatic visa to represent Libya and suggested Mussa Kussa's recommendation might be void because of his resignation on March 30 from the Libyan government.