Haiti
As Haiti demonstrates, being a mass murderer is no disqualification as a concordat partner with the Vatican (so long as you're a rightwing one, of course). And it's also no problem if you're a trifle heterodox, as well....
“Our Doc who art in the National Palace for life,
Hallowed be Thy name by present and future generations.
Thy will be done at Port-au-Prince and in the provinces.
Give us this day our new Haiti
And never forgive the trespasses of the anti-patriots
Who spit every day on our country;
Let them succumb to temptations,
And under the weight of their venom,
Deliver them not from any evil….”
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Concordats and Vodou: Who controls the Haitian church? |
Duvalier claimed that bullets couldn’t touch him. The Church recognised his usefulness (if not his immortality) and gave him a concordat with concessions that let him tighten his grip on Haiti. After his death, the Vatican quietly took back the concordat privileges from the collapsing government of his weak son. | |
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Haiti's first concordat (1860) and Cardinal Antonelli's Reply |
After Haiti declared its independence in 1804, he Vatican withdrew its (European) priests and refused to recognize the world’s first Black republic for more than half a century. It finally established relations through this 1860 concordat. | |
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Papa Doc's concordat (1966) |
This concordat let Duvalier nominate seven key churchmen, thus ensuring their personal loyalty to him. It also stipulates that future appointments should be “preferentially to members of the indigenous clergy”. Both these measures brought the Haitian church under Papa Doc’s control. | |
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Baby Doc's concordat (1984) |
This revokes the privilege granted to the father of Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier of nominating senior clerics. It is merely a restatement of the corresponding clauses in the country's first concordat (1860). On 30 January 1986, a year and a half after this concordat was signed, Baby Doc was forced out. The concordat, however, remained. |
