Haitian bishops thank Pope for drawing attention to nation’s plight
August 12, 2025
Reacting to Pope Leo XIV’s appeal for Haiti following his August 10 Angelus address, Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor of Port-au-Prince said, “The Episcopal Conference of Haiti thanks the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, for this cry on behalf of the Haitian people and for this appeal to the international community to take greater and more concrete care of the situation in Haiti.”
In an interview with Vatican media, Archbishop Mésidor painted a bleak picture of the Haitian conflict, in which powerful criminal gangs now extort money from impoverished families who wish to bury their dead in cemeteries.
“The Church of Haiti notes that crime no longer knows limits in our country,” the prelate said. “The kidnapping of eight people, including a child from the Sainte Hélène orphanage in Kenscoff, bears witness to this. This barbaric act is one of the many signs of the failure of the State and of a society that is losing its sense of life and human dignity.”
““We hope that this cry from the Pope will be heard by the Haitian authorities and the international community,” he continued. “The latter has increased meetings on the situation in our country, but results are desperately slow in coming. The multinational security support force has a very limited impact. There is a serious shortage of personnel and logistical resources.”
At the same time, “the Holy Father’s cry must resonate first and foremost in the hearts of Haitians, since it is our first responsibility to organize the country with a common project, promoting dialogue in nonviolence and justice,” said Archbishop Mésidor. “For there to be dialogue, for there to be a national conference, the weapons must be silent. Violence must be renounced.”
He added:
Let us join our prayers to his [Pope Leo’s], that God may help the Haitian people free themselves from all the chains that hinder their development. Especially the violence of armed groups, the lack of patriotic consciousness, and the petty struggles for power and money.
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Further information:
- El arzobispo de Haití: “La criminalidad en el país no tiene límite" (Vatican News)
- Pontiff welcomes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement, laments violence in Haiti (CWN, 8/11/25)
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