In a note, Mgr Launay Saturné, Bishop of the Diocese of Jacmel and President of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti reacted strongly on behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Haiti, following the deplorable and disgraceful incidents that occurred Saturday, December 30, 2017, during the celebration of Father Joseph Simoly's funeral when individuals disrupted the religious ceremony by making noise and making violent and derogatory remarks and threats against Cardinal Chibly Langlois.

"Us, the Catholic Bishops of Haiti, strongly condemn what happened at the time of the funeral of Father Joseph Simoly at the Port-au-Prince Transitional Cathedral. Agitators, obviously manipulated, having no connection with the spiritual and biological families of the late Father Joseph Simoly, have tried to exploit this celebration by making fuss inside the church, sacred space and inviolable.

These disrupters made derogatory remarks about a member of the Catholic hierarchy, His Eminence Cardinal Chibly Langlois. These violent remarks escalated into threats against the Cardinal's person. This is totally unacceptable and intolerable. We condemn this outrageous and abominable behavior which bears witness to blatant irreverence for the Church of Jesus Christ. This infamous maneuver is in our view an attempt to manipulate opinion in favor of the perpetrators of the villainous assassination https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23058-haiti-flash-a-priest-shot-dead-in-petion-ville.html

We want to express here our closeness, our support and our solidarity to His Eminence Cardinal Chibly, Langlois. The verbal attacks of which he was the subject last December 30 deeply shocked us and wounded. We demand from the highest authorities of the State that adequate measures be taken to protect Cardinal Langlois.

[...] We renew our sympathies to the family of Father Joseph Simoly who is deeply affected by these disorders that aimed to kill him a second time. Provocations and manipulations will not weaken the Church. Their authors have failed miserably in their Machiavellian scheme and in their cynical plan. The Church will remain more engaged than ever in its struggle against corruption, inequality and social injustice and for the promotion of the integral development of the Haitian woman and man [...]"

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23094-haiti-notice-funeral-of-the-reverend-father-joseph-simoly.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23088-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23070-haiti-security-strong-reaction-of-catholic-bishops-of-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23058-haiti-flash-a-priest-shot-dead-in-petion-ville.html

HL/ HaitiLibre