Haitian Bishop appeals for world leaders to help the suffering people

By Federico Piana

Abandoned by everyone, Haiti’s hope lies in prayer, according to Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of the Diocese of Anse-à-Veau-Miragoâne. Speaking to Vatican News, the Bishop, also vice president of the Episcopal Conference, underscored often the need for prayerful support. While his voice carries a tone of deep concern, he has also expressed hopes for solidarity: “Our people have suffered for years without anyone seeming to care. That is why the world must be helped to rediscover a sense of concrete solidarity with Haiti through prayer. It would be very beautiful to see individuals, parishes, institutions, families, and religious communities come together for a worldwide day of prayer.”

Desperate appeals

For years, the local Church has been making desperate appeals to the international community that have not been met with a response. According to the Bishop, the gang violence that claims dozens of lives every day, the extreme poverty, and the chronic political instability that generates injustice and inequality have failed to break through the priorities of international governments focused elsewhere.

But Bishop Dumas refuses to give up and continues to cry out louder than ever: “I believe that within the family of nations, the stronger brother cannot forget the weaker and wounded brother. The international community should allow itself to be challenged by what is happening in Haiti. My country is only an hour away from the United States, the world’s leading power. Yet it spends enormous sums on wars while we suffer right beside it. Haiti is not asking for superficial pity, but for concrete fraternity.”

Suffering for decades

World leaders, he says, are well aware of the Haitian people’s suffering since it has been ongoing for years, always the same. And Bishop Dumas once again recounts how “the violence of armed gangs continues to spread fear, death, and destruction. Most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, is controlled by gangs. Thousands of families have been forced to flee their homes, which are often burned or destroyed. Children and young people live traumatized in a permanent climate of insecurity.”

Humanitarian crisis

Then there is the humanitarian crisis. More than five million people risk dying of hunger. Much of the population has no access to basic healthcare services because some hospitals have been occupied by gang members, while many schools have been closed and thousands of students are denied the right to education.

The political and institutional dimension has also fallen into an unprecedented crisis. “There is,” Bishop Dumas denounces, “an extreme fragility in state institutions, toward which there is widespread distrust, pervasive public corruption, and unhealthy governmental instability. Haiti is a wound in the side of the world that should shake everyone’s conscience.”

Support from the Holy See

Bishop Dumas knows well that such concern cannot be taken for granted. That is why he thanks the Holy See for its continued support for his beloved people. “The meeting between Pope Leo XIV and the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, with the Haitian government delegation a few days ago represents for us a concrete effort toward peace. After all, it was the Holy See that first recognized the independence of our state.”

A great dream

In the heart of the Bishop of Anse-à-Veau-Miragoâne — who is currently recovering in Florida after surviving an attack by gangs that opposed his efforts to mediate peace between the government and armed groups — there is another wish. He calls it a dream: “To see the Pope visit Haiti one day. I am certain that his presence, like a light yet powerful shadow, could bring profound peace.”