Religion

Haitian President Michel Martelly's recent tour of Europe was timed to coincide with Cardinal Chibly Langlois'(Haiti's first cardinal) induction into the College of Cardinals. Martelly was granted an audience with Pope Francis after a presentation of the Haiti delegation was made to him. The delegates each received a blessing from Francis: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship, Pierre-Richard Casimir; Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Haiti to the Holy See, Karl Henry Guiteau; Special Counsellor to the Presidency, Gregory Mayard-Paul; and President of the Senate, Simon Desras Dieuseul.

After the introductions, President Martelly and Pope Francis exchanged symbolic tributes. Martelly presented Francis a bronze dove of peace, and he in turn gave Martelly the Angel of Peace medal. He also gave him the Aparecida. As a courtesy gift for the First Lady he gave her the Gaudiam Evangelii.

Read more →  

Archbishop Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes is Haiti's first cardinal, appointed by Pope Francis. Langlois joins Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Orani Joao Tempesta; Archbishop Leopoldo Jose Brenes Solarzano of Managua, Nicaragua; and Archbishop of Santiago del Chile, Chile, Ricardo Ezzati Andrello.

These three new cardinals are part of a group of 19, who come from Asia, Africa, Canada, Burkina Faso, and Latin America. With the selection of prelates from Haiti and Burkina Faso, Pope Francis is putting into action his conviction the Roman Catholic Church needs to put more focus on poorer populations. According to Rev. Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Vatican, the choice of Haiti for the cardinal's hat demonstrates the Vatican will become an advocate for Haiti in the international community.

Read more →  

The Voodoo religion is an amalgamated religion that is still widely practiced within Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora. It shares some similarities with Christianity, in that the followers believe in a creator god, Bondye, who is the originator of their lives, much as Christians believe in the almighty God. In this general aspect, Voodoo and Christianity look the same, but particulars can be drawn with the Catholic faith that can't be drawn through other Christian denominations.

Practitioners of Voodoo believe in steering their lives by managing personal bonds with Lwa via devotional objects and indulging in ceremonies of spiritual presentations. The fact that Voodoo finds its roots in Catholic Church has a chief role to play in this. They hold a belief that their God is in constant communication with the priests and not with the common person, much like the Catholic who use prayer beads and the Virgin Mary, among other things, in prayer.

Read more →  

When the news of the ascension of Bishop Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes as the first Haitian Cardinal reached Haiti on Sunday 12 January, the Haitian people and the local Catholic Church were both surprised and happy. The Haitians got their first Cardinal exactly on the same day when four years ago a terrible earthquake took hundreds of thousands lives in Haiti. Bishop Chibly Langlois is the president of the Haitian bishops' who is respected by Haitians for his immense service in the post earthquake era in Haiti.

Haiti is the place where most of the poorest of the poor live in western hemisphere. Many of us do not remember that this is the place in America where the Cross of Jesus Christ was first placed. On 6 December, 1492, Christopher Columbus along with his other European companions when arrived on this island, to bring the land under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, his first act was to plant a cross on the beach at Môle St. Nichola and establish the first Spanish colony on the island.

Read more →  

The new Roman Catholic Pope has, at the outset of his run, taken stances and made decisions that have had him labeled as reformative. His latest appointment of a Cardinal for the island of Hispaniola has been one more such move, Chibly Langlois.

There can only be one! The Spanish part of the island, the Dominican Republic, has always held the honor of being home to a Roman Cardinal. But, after Pope Francis' recent naming of his 19 new cardinals, it is Haiti and its 'little priest that could' which now has the ear and attention of the Holy See.

Read more →  

The pope, the Curia in Rome and the Haitian Bishops are the spiritual leaders of the Catholic church in Haiti including nine dioceses of which two are archdioceses. In 1511 the dioceses of Saint Domingo were found and the island of Hispaniola was divided among bishoprics. Concepcion then remained the only diocese until 1862.

The first wave of evangelization was terminated by the Haitian revolution. Instability hit the territory for decades and poverty, mistreatment of slaves and a class system became the fate of the country. Haiti consequently was declared as the first black independent nation and almost all the clergy left the area after the 1804 massacre.

Read more →  

Cardinals, for the time it takes them to decide who the next pope in the Catholic world will be, are arguably the most important, influential group within the denomination. Ever since 1059, before which the pope had been selected first by the clergy and those of the Roman diocese, then in part by the nobility, the cardinals have held this high power after the pope gained a stronger sense of independence from politics.

Within the realm of the cardinal are different orders, namely bishops, priests and deacons. The cardinal bishops are the high priests of the church. Today, most cardinals are bishops, but the actual term "cardinal bishop" is used to refer only to those from the seven suburbicarian dioceses of the Church in the vicinity of Rome.

Read more →  

On January 12, 2014, Pope Francis has selected Bishop Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes as the first Haitian cardinal. The new cardinal is a 55 year old tireless worker who never forgot his impoverished childhood.

Chibly Langlois was born in La Valle in southeast Haiti and rose in a poor family. He is one among the 19 new cardinals named by Pope Francis on January 12. He is the youngest and the only non-archbishop in the group. The Haitian Catholic leaders believe this selection by Pope is a recognition of his service to the victims of devastating earthquake in 2010. The seismic activity killed over 220,000 people three years ago and left 1.5 million homeless. Even the archbishop of the capital city Port-au-Prince died in the quake and the city's iconic cathedral was toppled. It is truly a historic news for Haiti and a big appreciation of its church's dedicated work undertaken in difficult time in the post-earthquake period.

Read more →  

A Christian organization, Church of Bible Understanding (CBU), is not doing the good they proclaim they are. They run a two-home orphanage in the Port-au-Prince hills, which Haiti's Social Welfare Institute (SWI) has rated yellow, meaning it is not measuring up to minimum national standards.

CBU claims on its tax returns it is laying out $2.5 million yearly to run the orphanage. But when the Associated Press made a surprise visit to the homes, they found alarming conditions: dark and barren filthy rooms; ancient, worn-out mattresses, and reeking odors permeating the air. The homes were also overcrowded.

To fund the operation of the orphanage, CBU runs several antique stores in Manhattan, where items sell as high as $20,000-plus dollars. CBU tax returns don't disclose how much cash is actually being spent, due to vague descriptions of in-kind items. A CBU spokesman says it spends $1 million yearly, contradicting the amount they claim on IRS forms.

Read more →  

Here is the first reaction of Monseigneur Langlois Chibly, following his nomination as the new and first Haitian cardinal ever on January 12, 2014 by the Vatican.

Like everyone in Haiti, Monseigneur Langlois Chibly expressed his surprise as well to the news. The new Haitian Cardinal stated that "Even though the country is in a time when it commemorates the death of many of our fellow citizens occurred during the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, I received this news."

Watch the Video

Read more →