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Cardinal Chibly Langlois, 63, bishop of Cayes in Haiti, was the victim of a serious traffic accident on June 8 on a national road in the Caribbean country. According to the local press, he suffered several fractures but his life is not in danger. This accident comes almost 10 months after the earthquake of August 14, 2021, which had particularly affected his diocese and during which he himself was injured.
A tweet from local media Radio Télé Métronome said that the Cardinal’s health was stable, but that he suffered fractures “in his arms and kidneys, according to the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince” and that his driver was also injured.
The Haitian Cardinal had already been injured in the earthquake of the summer of 2021, which caused the collapse of the bishops’ house where he resided. Three of his residents died in the earthquake, which particularly affected his diocese of Cayes. In total, more than 2,240 deaths were recorded after this disaster that had awakened the memory of the earthquake of January 12, 2010. This huge earthquake devastated the capital and killed nearly 230,000 people, including the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince at the time, Mgr. Serge Miot, who died in the collapse of his residence.
First Haitian Cardinal
Born in 1958, Cardinal Chibly Langlois became the first Haitian to join the Sacred College on February 22, 2014, during the first consistory of Pope Francis’ pontificate. After serving as bishop of Fort-Liberté from 2004 to 2011, he became bishop of Les Cayes, a city in the southeast of the country. He presided over the Haitian Bishops’ Conference (Conférence Episcopale de Haïti) from 2011 to 2017.
This country of 12 million inhabitants, half of whom are Catholics, has experienced a series of tragedies in its recent history, including numerous natural disasters but also political instability and insecurity that crystallized in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021. On February 2, 2022, in a joint communiqué, the Haitian bishops denounced the “descent into hell” experienced by the Haitian population.
And today we celebrate...