![\"Haitian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2269847709.jpg\" "\\"Haitian")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime<\/p>\n
CLARENS SIFFROY<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Haiti Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aim\u00e9 is headed to Vatican City for an audience with the pope.<\/p>\n
The head of Haiti\u2019s transitional government is scheduled to meet the pontiff on Saturday. He plans to thank him for his support of the country and appeal for an international peace conference on Haiti, Fils-Aim\u00e9 told the Miami Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Church has always been a partner whenever we want to talk about peace and I think that Haiti\u2019s at the point where we are ready with everything that is coming,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to start preparing \u2026 so we can start talking and healing as a people. And I think that the religious leaders, whether it\u2019s the pope or the Protestants or the Vodou leaders, everybody needs to… bring the country back together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fils-Aim\u00e9 is the second Haitian leader in less than 18 months to receive an audience at the Holy See, but the first to meet Pope Leo XIV, who was elected a year ago Friday. The Roman Catholic Church\u2019s 267th leader, whose family lineage traces through Haiti, is the first American pope.<\/p>\n
Like his predecessor Pope Francis \u2014 who welcomed the former head of Haiti\u2019s presidential council less than three months before his death on April 21, 2025 \u2014 Leo has closely followed the deepening crisis in Haiti, where Catholic nuns and priests have been among those kidnapped by armed gangs and where church-affiliated hospitals have been forced to close.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur country is going through difficult times, particularly in terms of security. These hardships wound families and put lives to the test, but they have never shaken the determination of the Haitian people, nor the resilience of its institution. And in the face of this reality, the government remains fully mobilized,\u201d Fils-Aim\u00e9 told a gathering during a stopover in Miami Friday night. The group included North Miami elected officials and community leaders.<\/p>\n
The Haiti National Police, he said, continues to be strengthened while the country\u2019s fledging armed forces \u201care steadily increasing their operational capacities.\u201d<\/p>\n
An anti-gang task force, utilizing explosive drones and foreign contractors, he added, has also \u201cbegun its involvement on the ground alongside the national forces with a clear mission: Secure the territory, protect the population and neutralize criminal groups. The struggle is demanding, but it\u2019s being carried out with courage, discipline and a sense of duty. Our ambition is clear: To restore lasting security, so that every Haitian woman and men, including those in the diaspora, may live return and invest in Haiti with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armed groups continue to tighten their grip in Haiti, especially outside of the capital in places like the Lower Artibonite region, where the Gran Grif gang has attacked members of the public and government offices. Residents in the region say they have been targeted by a coalition led by an escaped prisoner who had been condemned to life in prison before escaping.<\/p>\n
In the interview with the Herald, Fils-Aim\u00e9 said Haiti is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new United Nations authorized Gang Suppression Force, whose deployment has been slow to roll out. During his recent visit to the U.N. Security Council, he said, he reminded them that \u201cthe international community took an engagement to help\u201d Haiti.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey decided they will, and we are going to keep them to their promise.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Once the force is in Haiti the country will need healing, especially youths, some of whom have little choice except to join gangs, Fils-Aim\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to need to heal, and the healing is going to have to go through justice,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd there is going to be the need for getting the kids back\u2026getting kids that didn\u2019t go to school, sending them to school, those that are older, giving them a job, and we need to create the opportunity.<\/p>\n
Pope audience follows one with Rubio<\/p>\n
Fils-Aim\u00e9\u2019s meeting with the pope will come after the pontiff met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday to discuss the situation in the Middle East and other topics, the State Department said.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Haitian prime minister visited Washington and the U.N., where he discussed continued support for Haiti, including the multinational anti-gang force. During his meetings, he also raised issues ranging from immigration to intelligence-sharing \u2014 a deficiency that came under scrutiny during the federal trial in Miami of four South Florida men accused of conspiring to kidnap or kill Haiti\u2019s president, Jovenel Mo\u00efse nearly five years ago.<\/p>\n
The prime minister said the issue of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the U.S. came up \u201cwith everybody I spoke to,\u201d including lawmakers from both political parties and officials at the State Department. The Trump administration has moved to end the deportation protections for Haitians.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that every country has the right to decide who and how they come to their country, but there is a reality,\u201d the prime minister said. \u201cSending the people now to Haiti would be counterproductive to what we\u2019re doing… because we wouldn\u2019t have places to put them as we speak.\u201d<\/p>\n