Haiti’s ongoing crisis has reached catastrophic levels, with an estimated 1.3 million people fleeing the country amid spiraling violence, state collapse, and institutional decay. Armed clashes in recent weeks have displaced an additional 15,000 people. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that 21,500 children have already been treated for acute malnutrition in 2025—a number expected to rise to 129,000 by year’s end.
Against this backdrop of suffering, the Episcopal Conference of Haiti (CEH) issued a stark and urgent pastoral letter on July 23, condemning what it termed the “barbaric acts” plaguing the nation and lamenting the erosion of human dignity.
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The CEH described its statement as a moral and spiritual intervention “to sound the alarm on the extent of the collapse, to denounce all that degrades human dignity, and to propose—guided by the light of the Gospel—paths of conversion, justice, and hope.”
Central to the bishops’ message was a grave warning: Haiti is undergoing a societal breakdown so profound that it threatens not only institutions, but the moral and spiritual fabric of the nation. “We are witnessing the breakdown of society and the decay of the institutions that support it,” the bishops wrote, declaring that the state has ceased to provide “security, justice, or even the basic necessities of life.”
The statement painted a harrowing portrait of the population: displaced, humiliated, impoverished, and wounded—both physically and psychologically. The bishops emphasized that no person or place has been spared from the terror inflicted by armed gangs. Schools, hospitals, churches, and cultural symbols have all come under assault, leaving the nation in a state of pervasive insecurity.
Reflecting on the humanitarian fallout—including food shortages, collapsed health services, and mass displacement—the bishops posed two poignant questions: What lies behind this dehumanization? And why have public authorities failed to act in defense of life, liberty, culture, and memory?
The CEH also addressed the most recent draft of Haiti’s constitution, proposed in May 2025. While acknowledging that the draft represents “a significant moment in our national life,” the bishops expressed both cautious optimism and deep concern.
They recognized the potential for the proposed text to lay the groundwork for a more inclusive and just national project. Promising elements include commitments to transparency, anti-corruption efforts, greater recognition of basic social rights, and the inclusion of the Haitian diaspora in national life.
However, the bishops also issued strong warnings. They highlighted the dangers of expanding presidential authority, the absence of mechanisms to ensure the enforcement of social rights, and the exclusionary nature of a constitutional process largely conducted without public engagement.
A constitution, the CEH stressed, is not merely a legal instrument—it is a “social covenant” that must be grounded in Haiti’s historical, cultural, and social realities. Crafting such a document requires broad consultation and national consensus, both of which are currently lacking. “The appropriate time for such a process,” they argued, “is not now.”
Instead, the bishops called for immediate action on the country’s most pressing needs: security, peace, and good governance. These, they asserted, are the necessary preconditions for any credible national reform.
Despite their grave tone, the bishops closed on a note of guarded hope. “There is still time to avoid the irreversible,” they wrote. Yet they cautioned that passivity and silence in the face of injustice only deepen the crisis. “Too much blood has been shed. Too many families are shattered. Too many young people have lost hope,” the CEH lamented.
In their final appeal, the bishops extended their prayers to all victims of the crisis and invoked the intercession of the Virgin Mary, asking that she grant the Haitian people “the graces of conversion, peace, and renewal.”
