A hat tip to bill_brown @ Twitter and the Miami Herald
PARIS — A Roman Catholic priest in France says Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, has died in the Haiti earthquake.
Father Pierre Le Beller of the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in western France says fellow missionaries in Haiti told him they found Miot’s body in the ruins of the archdiocese office.
Miot was 63.
The Archbishop was well noted for speaking out in support of one of Haiti’s most famous political prisioners, Fr. Gérard Jean-Juste who was 1 of nearly 700 reported political prisoners in Haiti. Fr Gerry, who died not that long ago himself after a long illness was a vocal opponent of torture by the government and and incredible supporter of the poor.
Haiti’s interim government spared no effort to build a case against Fr. Jean-Juste in the Court of Public Opinion. Prime Minister Gérard Latortue announced there was a valid warrant for his arrest, Justice Minister Bernard Gousse promised evidence that the priest was financing violence, the police declared him responsible for disturbing the peace and for attacking them. The prosecutor insisted Fr. Jean-Juste was an accomplice to two murders.
The case had no merit whatsoever, but it took the Archbishop to deploy much of his own political capital along with the help of “the peace Bishop” Bishop Tom Gumbleton to get the case thrown out. Because of his work, Haitians were able to continue to be served by the work of Fr Gerry.
Amongst the many dead in Haiti, this man was a giant who served his people with peace.