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TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Cardinal Numbers, a rexypod ranking all the Cardinals of the Catholic Church we can get our hands on, from the Catacombs to Kingdom Come.

Check out the show notes for sources, further reading, and a transcript.

Today we're discussing another current Cardinal of the Catholic Church, one of the 120 or so people who will choose the next Pope when the time comes.

Chibly LANGLOIS was born on November 29, 1958, in La Vallée, a community in the diocese of Jacmel, Haïti, located on the Tiburon Peninsula that forms much of the island nations' southern territory. Barring future appointments, Chibly Langlois is the only Haitian cardinal, so let's briefly look at the island nation's history while we're here.

Haiti was the result of the only successful slave rebellion in history, making it a 19th century pariah with no diplomatic recognition or formal trade relations until the populace literally paid for themselves to compensate for the lost air quotes "property", something which they could only afford using the international equivalent of payday loans to predatory lenders. The end result of this is that Haiti is, to this day, one of the poorest countries on earth. It has also had a range of issues establishing an effective and stable government, considering it started from basically nothing, coupled with general hostility from the international community at large, having about two centuries of rule by fiat mixed with coups, a situation which has only begun to change in the last few decades.

When Chibly was born, the dictator of the day was François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who would be succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The Duvalier regime became more repressive after a coup attempt a few months before Chibly's birth, so the family got to deal with that in addition to being no exception to the general poverty.

The oldest of four, Chibly entered seminary in 1985, shortly before a 1986 uprising put Baby Doc Duvalier into exile. Incidentally, one of the factors that may have contributed to that uprising was a 1983 visit by none other than Pope John Paul II, where the Supreme Pontiff publicly told the leader of the majority-Catholic country that quote "things must change in Haiti" end quote.

Chibly Langlois was ordained in 1991 at the age of 32, becoming a priest for his home diocese of Jacmel. He held a few diocesan roles right off the bat, including serving as vicar for the cathedral, then in 1994 he went off to Rome for further study, obtaining a Licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Lateran University.

Like many Cardinals, Fr Langlois also served as a seminary professor, teaching pastoral theology from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, he was elected bishop of Fort-Liberté, where he served until 2011, when he was transferred to head the Diocese of Les Cayes. Later that year, he became head of Haiti's bishops conference, a role he'd fill till 2017.

In 2014, Pope Francis announced that he would be elevating Bishop Langlois to the Cardinalate, in the first of what would become Francis' many surprising red-hattings. Cardinal Langlois is Haiti's first Cardinal, and Pope Francis passed over both of the countries' archbishops in the process. The announcement was made on the fourth anniversary of a devastating 2010 earthquake that had killed more than 2% of Haiti's population, including one of the archbishops, and left another 15% of the population homeless. Cardinal Langlois had carried on his general focus on social justice and the poor in his efforts to aid in the aftermath, and the timing of the announcement on the anniversary was seen as no coincidence given his name appearing on the list.

Nor was that Cardinal Langlois' last earthquake, he himself was injured in a separate 2021 earthquake that killed three in the priestly residence where he was staying. He also suffered a broken arm in a 2022 car accident. And though I don't want this episode to just be a laundry list of bad things that happened to Cardinal Langlois and his country, I should also note that the Cardinal has been co-signing statements from Haiti's bishops' conference decrying a quote "descent into hell" end quote as they said in 2021, then quote "murderous madness of hatred, of contempt for life” end quote in 2022, and just two months ago their statement included a reference to "genocide" of defenseless civilians by criminal gangs. So, to put it mildly, Cardinal Langlois and his brother bishops want you to know that things are once again not great in Haiti.

In fact, since the time I made my original notes here, Haiti's government fell again after the acting President who had not taken promised steps to install a successor was refused access back into the country. Whatever the transition will be is still playing out, with violence among armed gangs being even more common than usual.

What can you do? Well, there's a UNICEF fundraising link for relief to Haitian children in the comments. You can also pray, I'm not one to mock thoughts and prayers. If you're going to hop on a plane with relief stuff like a new Roberto Clemente–there's a story, dude should be canonized–let me know and I'll encourage listeners to support your mission. You can spread awareness more generally in some small way, hoping increased attention will eventually bring the aid you can't bring personally. I don't pretend any of those options will have much effect, and I know they're all subject to ridicule from cynics. C'est la vie. I'll let you figure out the best response for you, with a note that anything is better than nothing, though keep in mind you can't do everything.

Chibly Langlois is eligible to participate in future conclaves until he turns 80 in 2038.

Today's episode is part of Cardinal Numbers, and there will be more Cardinal Numbers next week. Thank you for listening; God bless you all!

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