Violent gangs in Haiti have kidnapped “a lot” of Catholic priests and churchgoers in the past week as the Caribbean nation descends deeper into gang-led chaos, Christian outlets reported on Monday.
Catholic organizations have urged the faithful to pray for “restored order” in Haiti as organized armed militias led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier take control of the country. Cherizier, who in recent years has repeatedly demanded the ouster of all Haitian politicians, publicly made calls for a “bloody revolution” on Monday.
“We’re not in a peaceful revolution. We are making a bloody revolution in the country because this system is an apartheid system, a wicked system,” Cherizier said.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, stranded in Puerto Rico as the gangs surrounded the Port-au-Prince airport, announced his planned resignation on Monday.
Amy Balog, a member of the Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity organization, recounted the ongoing desperation faced by Christians in Haiti to Premier Christian News on Monday.
“There have been a lot of abductions of church personnel, priests religious [sic] in the last few months,” Boleg said. “And sometimes these people are kidnapped and then released a few days later, but a number of religious kidnapped last month are still in captivity.”
“They were kidnapped by an armed gang, but no one knows where they are being kept,” Boleg explained, “and the motivation for these abductions is not clear, either.”
“There is this general sense of insecurity, people are just not feeling safe, roads are blocked, it’s impossible to get in and out of the capital,” she continued. “So it’s complete chaos.”
The Vatican News reported on Monday that five of the seven members of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart abducted in Port-au-Prince in February were released. The seven men were kidnapped on February 23 as they traveled to the Jean XXIII School, located in Port-au-Prince’s gang-controlled Bicentenary neighborhood.
“The struggle is not over because Brothers Pierre Isaac Valmeus and Adam Montclaison Marius are still held captive,” a statement issued by the organization reads.
Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor of Port-au-Prince told Aid to the Church in Need on Friday that pastoral work has been “very badly affected” by the ongoing wave of violence, and that “no place in the country is safe.”
“There is a real danger of civil war breaking out,” Mésidor said. “The armed gangs act like an organized army. The police cannot keep up with them.”
The Archbishop, who also serves as president of the Haitian Bishops’ Conference, said that the charity organization has reported several kidnappings of clergymen and religious figures in 2024.
“There are kidnappings everywhere,” Mésidor said. “Everyone is afraid, including the religious. As soon as you leave Port-au-Prince, you are in danger. The gangs even come into the churches to kidnap the people there.”
The Clergyman stressed that he has not been able to visit two-thirds of his diocese because the roads remain blocked.
“To reach the south of the diocese, I must take a plane. I have not been to the cathedral for two years,” he explained.
“The last celebration I was able to do in the cathedral was the Chrism Mass. It was full,” he continued. “But from the Agnus Dei until the end of the service shots were ringing out. We could see the smoke rising nearby.”
The archbishop remarked that the faithful have shown “resilience despite their suffering.”
“They are used to suffering – even when, as now, the suffering is on a terrible scale,” he said.
Pope Francis offered prayers for the people of Haiti during Sunday’s Angelus, adding that he is following the Caribbean nation’s ongoing situation with worry and sorrow.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
