Haitian Archbishop thanks Pope for appeal amid kidnapping Crisis

The Archbishop of Haiti, Monsignor Max Leroy Mésidor, has expressed gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for voicing concern over the worsening situation in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, particularly in Haiti.

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On Sunday, the Pontiff appealed to the abductors of Irish missionary Gena Heraty to release her and the children kidnapped on August 3. He described the situation in Haiti as “increasingly desperate” and called for “the concrete support of the international community to create the social and institutional conditions that will allow Haitians to live in peace.”

Heraty, who has spent decades caring for children with disabilities, was taken when armed men stormed the Saint Helena orphanage in Kenscoff, just outside Port-au-Prince.

“The episcopal conference of Haiti thanks the Holy Father, Pope Léon XIV, for his cry on behalf of the Haitian people and for his call to the international community so that it has more decisive and concrete measures in the face of the situation in Haiti,” Monsignor Mésidor said.

He told Vatican media that “the Church of Haiti notes that crime no longer knows any limits in our country…”

Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the Americas, has been gripped by violence from armed gangs. Church officials report that even funerals have become a source of extortion, with criminal groups demanding payment to access cemeteries or allow funeral processions. In rural areas such as Petite-Rivière and Artibonite, families sometimes walk for hours with the bodies of loved ones to avoid gang-controlled burial grounds.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, more than 3,000 people were killed in the first half of 2025 due to criminal violence. The agency also recorded 136 child deaths, 185 kidnappings, 628 cases of sexual violence, and widespread humanitarian needs, with 1.3 million people requiring food aid and 217,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition.

“We hope that the Pope’s appeal will be heard by the Haitian authorities and the international community,” Mésidor said, noting that “the latter has multiplied meetings on the situation in our country, but the results are slow.”

He added that the multinational security support mission (MMSS) has had “a minimal impact” due to a “serious shortage of workforce and logistical resources.” Mésidor also serves as President of the Haitian Bishops’ Conference.