The Catholic Church in Haiti expressed concern about the reform process to adopt a new Constitution promoted by the transition government, and warned that, given the crisis that the country is going through, this step “must be done at an appropriate time.”
In a Message issued Due to the Episcopal Conference of Haiti (CEH) on July 23, the bishops indicated that the constitutional draft of 2025, recently presented by the authorities, represents “a significant moment” in national life.
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However, they indicated that their approval “requires a broad debate that leads to a true national consensus, taking into account the historical, cultural and social reality of our people.”
Haiti does not guarantee “neither security, nor justice”
In the pronouncement signed by the 12 bishops of the country, it is denounced that the island is “a failed state that no longer guarantees security, or justice, nor the minimum vital for its people.”
The bishops warned that the territory is “fragmented, abandoned to the law of weapons and the terror of armed bands”, while the population is “in escape, displaced, humiliated, impoverished, wounded in their body and in their soul.”
They also denounced the insecurity that Catholics live in the country, where “any place or symbol is respected: places of worship are deemed, they are violated and looted sanctuaries, the historical and cultural heritage of the country is vandalized, it sets on fire without consideration for its value as a sign of collective memory, shared faith and national identity”.
Faced with this scenario, the bishops insisted that “it is not the right time for a process that leads to the adoption of a new constitution. The current priority is security, peace and governance at the service of the good of the people.”
They affirmed that the Renaissance of the Nation “will not come from a text, no matter how well written that it is, if it is not sustained by a renewed civic consciousness, a shared moral demand and a culture of dialogue and solidarity.”
Situation in Haiti
Haiti is going through a deep humanitarian crisis characterized by high levels of poverty, hunger and shortage of health services. According to the UN World Food Program5.7 million people, which is equivalent to more than half of the population, “suffer acute hunger. This includes more than 2 million people suffering from hunger levels of ’emergency’.”
Likewise, access to health is also critical: 40 % of Haitians cannot receive basic medical care, while public hospitals suffer severe shortage of personnel and supplies, According to the Pan American Health Organization.
This situation is aggravated by the widespread violence exercised by armed gangs, which have expanded their control over strategic territories of the country, amid a void of power after the murder of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
Between October 2024 and June 2025, more than a thousand people were killed and more than six hundred kidnapped, According to the UN.
Important points of the Constitutional Project
Although they recognized advances in the draft, such as the “modernization of the State”, the “recognition of social rights” or “the participation of women and young people”, the bishops pointed out some limitations.
They warned that it can be an “little inclusive process, without an elected constituent assembly or real citizen debate.” They also warned about “ambiguity in the territorial model, with risks of national fragmentation”, the “social rights proclaimed without clear mechanisms of guarantee and enforceability” and an institutional structure “too complex for a country with limited administrative and financial capacities.”
The bishops also set their attention on what they considered an “excessive concentration of power in the presidential figure, weakening legislative and judicial counterweights.”
Faced with this panorama, the bishops called both the authorities and society to work to build “not a constitution of unilateral rupture, but a foundational letter of a common future”, as well as to commit to the “moral and structural reconstruction of our society.”
They asked to reject the “resignation, revenge and anarchy” and raise “the voice for truth, justice and peace”, remembering that “too many families have been destroyed. Too many young people have lost hope.”
The message concludes with a prayer to the Lord and Our Lady of Perpetual Socorro, Patroness of Haiti, so that “touch the hardened hearts, raise the humiliated, bless the builders of peace.”