Pope Leo XIV referred to the daily tragedy endured by the Haitian population, confronted with abuses and violence by gangs that control part of the island. Leo XIV returned to the massacre committed by armed men in the municipality of Kenscoff, in the hills above Port-au-Prince, last Sunday. He called for the release of the remaining hostages.

“Dramatic news is reaching us from Haiti about the serious massacre perpetrated in Kenscoff, in which many people lost their lives while others were kidnapped,” the Pope said at the end of the Angelus prayer in Liberty Square, in Castel Gandolfo, in front of the Apostolic Palace. During the night of Sunday, August 23, to Monday, August 24, 47 people were killed in a church in Kenscoff. Several other people were kidnapped.