PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Thousands of proud Haitians packed the national soccer stadium in the capital yesterday for a special outdoor Mass by the country’s first Roman Catholic Cardinal, appointed last month by Pope Francis.
Cardinal Chibly Langlois called on the country’s faithful in the predominantly Catholic Caribbean nation of 10 million people to come together to raise the country out of poverty.
“To unify the country, to get out of poverty, I ask you to live together,” he told the congregation.
His surprise selection as Cardinal was a sign that God had not abandoned Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, he said.
“Pope Francis loves the Haitian people. He shows us that through his prayers and he chose one of us to become one of his cardinals,” he added.
Pope Francis chose Jan. 12th, the fourth anniversary of the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti that killed more than 200,000 people, to announce the nomination of Langlois, the relatively unknown bishop of Les Cayes, the main city on Haiti’s south coast.
Sunday’s Mass marked the anniversary of a famous 1983 visit to Haiti by Pope John Paul 11 who condemned the inequality and fear of poor Haitians living under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc’ Duvalier, saying “things must change.”
