By Vatican News
At two separate sessions of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Holy See’s Permanent Observer, Monsignor Juan Antonio Cruz Serrano, expressed the Vatican’s solidarity with the people of Haiti and those affected by Hurricane Melissa, while urging the international community to act with renewed commitment to peace, stability, and environmental stewardship.
Appeal for peace and stability in Haiti
Speaking during the presentation of the Secretary General’s progress report on the “Roadmap for Stability and Peace,” led by Haiti with regional and international support, Monsignor Cruz Serrano said the Holy See follows the grave humanitarian and social challenges facing the Haitian people with close attention.
He described the roadmap as “an instrument that places at the centre of discussion the pressing and dramatic reality of Haiti,” marked by insecurity, poverty, and violence. He also drew attention to the worsening effects of climate change, including the devastation wrought by Hurricane Melissa.
Recalling Pope Leo XIV’s recent address to the FAO on World Food Day, Monsignor Cruz repeated the Pope’s call to global solidarity: “The hungry faces of so many who still suffer challenge us and invite us to reexamine our lifestyles, our priorities and our overall way of living in today’s world… The international community cannot look the other way. We must make their suffering our own.”
The Holy See, he said, values the ongoing efforts of the OAS Secretariat in accordance with the mandate of the 55th General Assembly and “reiterates its closeness to the Haitian people and its constant support for all initiatives aimed at promoting peace and stability.”
Solidarity with nations affected by Hurricane Melissa
In a second intervention, during deliberations on the hurricane’s impact across the Caribbean, the Holy See’s delegate expressed “the sorrow, prayer, and spiritual closeness of Pope Leo XIV” to the governments and peoples of Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and the Bahamas.
The storm caused severe flooding, loss of life, displacement, and extensive damage to homes, infrastructure, schools, and hospitals. Monsignor Cruz Serrano noted that the Church, through local communities and organisations such as Caritas and Catholic Relief Services, “is seeking to reach out to those affected in these difficult and uncertain times.”
He reaffirmed the Vatican’s call for ecological responsibility, recalling “the imperative to care for nature through concrete actions and, above all, through significant national and international political decisions.”
Shared responsibility for creation
The Holy See, he concluded, “considers commendable the task of international and regional organisations, such as the OAS, in raising awareness among governments and civil society about the abuses committed against nature and in promoting mechanisms aimed at fulfilling the non-delegable duty to preserve the environment and the natural resources of each country.”
“Caring for and protecting creation,” he said, “is the responsibility of all.” – Vatican News
