Archbishop Max Leroy Mesidor, the President of the Haitian Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, expresses the Haitian Bishops’ gratitude for Pope Leo XIV’s appeal for their nation on Sunday, while lamenting that crime in the country “knows no bounds.”
By Olivier Bonnel and Deborah Castellano Lubov
“We hope that the Pope’s cry will be heard by the Haitian authorities and by the international community.”
Archbishop Max Leroy Mesidor, the President of the Haitian Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Port-au-Prince expressed this desire to Vatican News, along with the Bishops’ gratitude for Pope Leo XIV’s appeal on Sunday.
Reflecting on the situation, the Archbishop noted that the international community has held multiple meetings regarding the situation in the country.
“The results are desperately slow to materialize,” “the multinational security support force has had a very limited impact,” and “there is a serious lack of personnel and logistical resources,” he said.
Gratitude to Pope Leo
Thus, Archbishop Mesidor noted that Haiti’s Bishops thank the Holy Father for his words on Haiti during the Angelus, and especially “this cry on behalf of the Haitian people,” and to the international community “to become more engaged and concrete in addressing the situation in Haiti.”
Expressing his concern for peoples in difficulty, victims of injustice, war, and violence, Pope Leo “echoes the voice of the Church in Haiti, which continues to call for an end to violence.”
During the Angelus, the Pope turned his attention to the ongoing crisis in Haiti, expressing deep sorrow over the suffering of a population “increasingly overwhelmed by despair.” He condemned the country’s widespread “violence of all kinds, human trafficking, forced displacement, and kidnappings.”
“I make a heartfelt appeal to all responsible parties to release the hostages immediately,” he said, calling on the international community to provide tangible support to help create the social and institutional conditions “that will allow the Haitian people to live in peace.”
Crime knows no bounds
“Indeed,” Archbishop Mesidor told Vatican News, “the Church in Haiti observes that in our country, crime knows no bounds.”
This, he added, is evidenced by the kidnapping of eight people, including a child from the Sainte Hélène orphanage in Kenscoff, noting that “this act of barbarity is one of many signs of the failure of a state and a society that is losing its sense of life and human dignity.”
Primarily up to us Haitians to organize
The Holy Father’s cry must first and foremost resonate in the hearts of Haitians, as it is primarily up to us to organize our country around a common project, promoting dialogue in nonviolence and justice.
“For there to be dialogue, for there to be a national conference, the weapons must fall silent. There must be a renunciation of violence.”
May Haitians free themselves from chains hindering development
Expressing gratitude once more to the Holy Father for his appeal, the President of the Haitian Bishops’ Conference said, “We join our prayer to his, 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 awareness, and the petty struggles for power and money.”
Finally, Archbishop Mesidor prayed, “May this Jubilee of Hope strengthen the faith of God’s people in Haiti. May the Jubilee bring a time of grace and blessings for us Haitians. Because hope in God never disappoints.”