Pope Francis pleads for Haitian nuns’ release, as gang violence and kidnappings spike

As Haiti’s Catholic Church tries to negotiate the freedom of six kidnapped nuns and two of their companions from an armed gang, Pope Francis has called for the release of all hostages in the volatile nation and said he was praying for social harmony.

The Roman Catholic pontiff made the appeal in his weekly Angelus address on Sunday while also calling for an end to violence and kidnappings in Haiti. Gang members are reportedly demanding $3 million for the release of the nuns, who are members of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne.

It is common for Haitian gangs to initially demand an exorbitant amount of money before negotiating the release of kidnap victims, but payment of ransoms is no guarantee that those abducted will be freed. Gang kidnappings and violence have been escalating at an alarming rate in Haiti since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse nearly three years ago.

“I have learned with sorrow of the kidnapping, in Haiti, of a group of people, including six religious sisters,” Pope Francis said in Spanish in his Sunday address. “In my heartfelt plea for their release, I pray for social concord in the country, and I invite everyone to bring an end to the violence, which is causing a great deal of suffering to that dear population.”

The nuns and two others were abducted on Friday when their bus was hijacked by an armed gang. The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne has had a presence in for 80 years. The nuns provide services in the fields of religious instruction and education, among other areas.

In a joint communique, the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince and the Haitian Religious Conference, an association of congregations, said the nuns’ ongoing captivity “plunges us into worry and anguish.” They strongly condemned what they called “a heinous and criminal act,” which they said tarnishes the image of a country already “afflicted with so many repeated evils.”

Denouncing the silence of Haitian authorities, the Church said that “it is distressing to note that no serious response has been provided for more than two years to the scourge of kidnappings.

“We hear crimes, lamentations and bitter tears in Port-au-Prince, in the Artibonite, in the Northwest and all over the country,” the priests said. “The national boat is really adrift. It is urgent to straighten it out.”

The archdiocese said it is time to take to eradicate the scourges of kidnapping and violence by armed gangs. The Church also called on gangs in Haiti to stop their “blind, senseless violence” and appealed to the conscience of the kidnappers for the unconditional release of the nuns along with other kidnapped victims.

“Stop these despicable and criminal practices, which defile this sacred land that God has give us,” the statement, signed by Monsignor Max Leroy Mesidor and Father Morachel Bonhomme, president of the religious conference, said.

The two announced a day of prayer on Wednesday to demand the release of all hostages in Haiti. In a notice to parents over the weekend, the Sisters of Saint Anne announced that they will be closing the doors to their schools until further notice to protest the kidnapping.

The nuns’ abduction came as Douglas Pape, of son of a prominent physician, continues to be held hostage by a gang despite the payment of several ransoms. An agronomist who works with coffee farmers, Pape was taken at gunpoint on Nov. 28 from a farm in the hills above Port-au-Prince. His father is Dr. Jean William “Bill” Pape, the founder of GHESKIO, a leader in the treatment of AIDS and tuberculosis in Haiti. Since the kidnapping, the clinic’s staff and patients have been staging nearly daily demonstrations demanding the younger Pape’s release.

In the past year kidnappings in Haiti have increased by 83% and murders by 119%, the United Nations said in its latest report. The report, published over the weekend, came at the end of a tense and chaotic week in which Haitians were once more forced to abandon their homes by armed gangs that raided another poor Port-au-Prince neighborhood, Solino. At least 20 people were killed, according to one human-rights group, and many others fled, adding to the toll of tens of thousands of Haitians who have been forced to flee their homes in recent months.

The U.N. said gang influence has been expanding at an alarming rate into previously less affected areas, such as Carrefour-Feuilles, Solino, Bon Repos, Mariani and Léogâne.

Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 of last year, officials recorded 1,432 homicides, compared with 673 victims during the same period last year. The number of kidnap victims rose to 698 compared with 391 victims over the same period in 2022, the U.N. said.

The report was submitted by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to the Security Council ahead of a Thursday meeting in New York on the situation in Haiti. The meeting, which will focus on the ongoing security challenges and political stalemate, will take place a day before a court in Kenya is scheduled to hear a legal challenge on the East African nation’s offer to deploy 1,000 of its police officers to help the Haitian national police as part of a multinational force.

On Oct. 9, the High Court in Nairobi issued a temporary injunction against the deployment after former presidential candidate Ekuru Aukot challenged the offer, saying sending Kenya cops to Haiti was unconstitutional. The U.N. authorized the Multinational Security Support mission after Kenya offered to lead it along with security officers from the Caribbean and elsewhere.

Guterres said the security support mission is urgently needed, and the report continues his call for U.N. member countries to provide troops, funding and equipment. His team has noted that the Haitian police cannot stave off gangs or maintain control of gang-controlled neighborhoods without outside help due to a number of factors, including their shrinking numbers. At least 1,600 police officers left the force last year, according to Canada’s top diplomat at the U.N., while dozens have been killed by gangs.

Despite the ongoing attrition of Haiti police officers, many of whom have left for the United States under the two-year humanitarian parole program launched by the Biden administration last year, Haiti’s police leadership is preparing for the arrival of the multinational force. In December, a police delegation led by Haiti’s police chief, Frantz Elbe, and the head of the judicial police, Frederic Leconte, visited Naroibi.

Guterres also highlighted the ongoing impasse between Haiti’s political and civil society groups. They have been unable to reach a consensus on governing the country despite calls from the United States and other countries for an end to the political stalemate between Prime Minister Ariel Henry and members of civil society and political groups. Though Henry has been governing under a political accord with a three-member transitional Council, the agreement has failed to get a wider consensus. As a result, Henry will be unable to fulfill his promise to give the country a newly elected president by Feb. 7 of this year.

The ongoing disagreements and diverging propositions have led to continued uncertainty about when elections can take place, and the on the success of the multinational force should the Kenya court and allow the deployment.