The Pope calls for the release of hostages in Haiti and the help of the international community

Vatican City.- Pope Leo XIV showed his concern for the situation in Haiti and called for the immediate release of the hostages and concrete help from the international community so that Haitians can live in peace, in an appeal at the end of the Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square. “The situation of the Haitian people is increasingly desperate. There are reports of assassinations, violence of all kinds, human trafficking, homicides of all kinds, and kidnappings,” said the American pontiff, looking out the window of the pontifical palace at hundreds of people gathered in the square.

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Leo XIV then made a strong appeal “to all those responsible to immediately release the hostages” and also requested “the concrete support of the international community to create the social and institutional conditions that allow Italians to live in peace”: A few days ago, the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince “vehemently” condemned the kidnapping of eight people, including a child and an Irish missionary, which occurred last Sunday at the Sainte-Helene orphanage in Kenscoff, in the upper part of Port-au-Prince, calling it a “new act of barbarity” and “ignominious”. This is “one more sign, among so many others, of the moral collapse, the failure of the State and a society that is losing the meaning of life and human dignity”, the archdiocese stated in a statement, in which it claims to have received the news with “deep sadness” and “great indignation”.