Catholic Church in Haiti
"The Dioceses of Santo Domingo and Concepción de la Vega were founded in 1511, and the island of Hispaniola that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, was divided between these bishoprics.
The Dominicans devoted themselves especially to the mission in the western part of the colony, and were for a time supported therein by other orders and secular priests.
The Capuchins, who looked after the northern part of the island, and were likewise assisted by other orders and secular priests, soon were unable to supply enough missionaries.
Influence by the clergy ceased in the northern part of the country, the western mission improved under the British occupation from 1794 to 1798, while, in the south, the Apostolic prefect Père Viriot, was murdered.
In 1802 General Leclere restored the former jurisdictions of Cap-Haïtien and Port-au-Prince, and named as prefects Apostolic Pères Corneille Brelle, O.
Tensions increased as poverty spread, mistreatment of slaves was common and a class system grew between a French-speaking Catholic minority and the poorer Creole majority.
After a massacre in 1804, nearly all the clergy left the colony but Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Brelle became the Archbishop ("grand-archevêque") of Haiti (without a regular appointment), named by Dessalines.
It received an annual state subsidy of 20,000 francs, the payment of which, however, was suspended owing to the political troubles of 1867, and in 1869 it was entirely abrogated.
Catholic clergy, however, have not been persistently militant in their opposition to vodou, and they have had relatively little impact on the religious practices of the rural and the urban poor.
When relations with the church were restored in 1966, a Haitian archbishop was named for the first time, and the president gained the right to nominate bishops.
Though Cardinal Ratzinger did praise the theology's intellectual underpinnings that reject violence, and, instead, "[stress] the responsibility which Christians necessarily bear for the poor and oppressed",[5] he strongly opposed certain elements of liberation theology, through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Vatican twice (1984, 1986) officially condemned its acceptance of Marxism and armed violence.
Since then, the Catholic Church in Haiti has adopted a more prayerful, pacifist and human approach in providing help and justice for the poor, as can be shown in the conduct of Father Gérard Jean-Juste.
In accordance with Catholic social teaching, it strives to vindicate the right to life of all people in Haiti, through partnerships and twinnings.
Killed included Port-au-Prince's Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, his chancellor, many seminarians and religious, and the sister of Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns of Brazil.
Following the turmoil in which Haiti was embroiled in 2021, with the murder of President Jovenel Moïse, the Haitian Catholic Bishops launched an appeal for unity, saying "the moment in which we are living is extremely serious and particularly decisive at this irreversible turning point of our history.
We must make courageous and effective decisions.” “Our dear Haiti is crossing a difficult stage in its history,” wrote the bishops.
In 2022 there were several cases of anti-Catholic violence in Haiti, namely the kidnapping of Fr Whatner Aupont,[11] who was later released, the murder of Sister Luisa Dell’Orto,[12] and the arson attack on the Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, as well as the looting of Caritas offices in other parts of the country.
[13] Difficulties remained in 2023, but 2024 saw an aggravation of the situation with a spate of kidnappings[14] of priests and religious[15] and attacks on Catholic institutions and property.
[16] Bishop Pierre André Dumas was injured in a bombing in February,[17] although the motive of the attack was unclear, and he may not have been the intended target.
