Haitian bishops condemn kidnappings of Catholic priests and nuns

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Church leaders in Haiti condemned the kidnappings and called for action against the perpetrators.

Apr 13, 2021

WASHINGTON DC: Seven Catholic priests and nuns were kidnapped in Haiti on Sunday and are being held for ransom.

The five priests and the two nuns were kidnapped in Croix-des-Bouquets, a suburb of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. According to local reports, they were taken away on their way to witness the installation of a parish priest.

According to Haitian media, the “400 Mawozo” gang has admitted its guilt for the kidnapping and is demanding $ 1 million in ransom.

Two of the kidnapped, a priest and a nun, are of French nationality.

Church leaders in Haiti condemned the kidnappings and called for action against the perpetrators.

Brother Gilbert Peltrop, secretary general of the Haitian Conference of Religious, told Reuters that “the nation must stand up to fight these thugs.”

Bishop Pierre-André Dumas, vice-president of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti and bishop of Anse-à-Veau and Miragoâne, told AFP that “the Church prays and stands in solidarity with all the victims of this act odious”.

“It’s too much,” he said. “The time has come for these inhumane acts to end. ”

The Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince warned in a statement that gang violence has reached “unprecedented” levels in the country.

“For some time now, we have been witnessing the descent into hell of Haitian society,” said the archdiocese, as reported by AFP. “The public authorities which do nothing to resolve this crisis are not immune to suspicion,” the statement continued, condemning “complacency and complicity”.

The number of kidnappings for ransom has recently increased in Haiti, and protests have denounced the rise in violence in the country.

During the Easter Triduum, four members of a church were kidnapped in a ceremony broadcast live on Facebook.

On April 1, four members of the Adventist Church’s Seventh-day Gospel Ministry in Diquini, Haiti were kidnapped while performing at the ceremony. Many who watched the service would have thought the kidnapping was an April Fool’s Day prank, before realizing they had witnessed a crime.

The quartet, comprising the pastor of the church, the pianist and two technicians, were held hostage until Easter Sunday and were released after the payment of a ransom.

Dr Gregory M. Figaro, whose father founded the church in Diquini, was present during the kidnapping and said a man armed with a gun entered the church after knocking on the door.

“If that can happen, then anything is possible in the country because there is no respect for any institution, be it a church or a school,” Figaro told the Miami Herald after the kidnapping. “They even catch people inside their homes.”

Haiti has also been affected by other crises, including natural disasters and a lack of health care infrastructure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.–ANC

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