1983, March 9: (Fòk Sa Chanje: The Pope Kisses Haitian Soil, Addresses the Masses in Creole, Things Must Change Reverberates Across the Country, the Untrodde…

1983, March 9: (Fòk Sa Chanje: The Pope Kisses Haitian Soil, Addresses the Masses in Creole, Things Must Change Reverberates Across the Country, the Untrodden Red Carpet, the Spurned Miami Repast, the Macoute Minister’s Marriage in Vain, Michèle’s Hatless Scandal, Ti Legliz and the Vatican’s Counter-Strategy Against Liberation Theology): Tens of thousands gathered at the newly spruced-up airport to watch the Pope’s Alitalia DC-10 land. Monsignor Ligondé and the Nuncio — nicknamed le Monstre for his chumminess with the regime — went aboard to greet the Pontiff, who emerged in his traditional white cassock, stepped off the red carpet imported for his visit, and kissed Haitian soil. Responding to the president’s speech, the Pope, in front of millions of Haitians clustered around radios and televisions, greeted the masses in Creole — twisting his tongue around the unfamiliar sounds, in nonetheless comprehensible Creole the Pontiff lashed out against misery, hunger, and fear. Then, in words that reverberated around the country, he thundered: Fòk sa chanje! — things must change. The airport, closed for the day, became an instant stadium as the Pope celebrated Mass in the open. Declining the food brought in by the government at such expense from Miami, the Holy Father took instead a simple repast in the company of Haitian priests. Stopping at the palace only long enough to bless the newest Duvalier, one-month-old Nicolas, his message to the Haitian people was unmistakable — the Pope was siding with them. Port-au-Prince snickered as it reveled in the details of the untrodden red carpet, the spurned repast, the marriage in vain of the macoute minister — what could you expect, old ladies mused, Michèle Duvalier had not even worn a hat. Unbeknownst to the government, the Vatican had rather a different agenda for the Papal visit: it had noted with disquiet the increasing popularity of Liberation Theology in Latin America, and few places seemed to offer such fertile ground as Haiti, where the increased militancy of many young priests in the movement known as Ti Legliz — little church — had attracted Vatican attention. Only by reclaiming the Church’s moral authority from the macoute bishops could Rome hope to forestall a move by the masses to alternatives.