The recent disaster in Haiti is painful enough to shake the whole world and offers a great chance for everyone to go out of our way to help so many unfortunate people, through intense Christian charity and all types of humanitarian work. All the help the world can give will certainly be insufficient due to the magnitude of the catastrophe. The US has offered a wonderful (and unique) example of generosity and solidarity, as they say now; while other countries, like Europe, have been more reluctant, or have left their giving to be done through isolated groups or organizations.

            Few people will not have commiserated or felt solidarity towards the disgrace and pain of so many unfortunate people. Very few people, practically no one, will remain indifferent; maybe as few as those who have paused to think of the tragedy and its possible causes.

            And I say possible causes because we cannot rule out that there may be other reasons, besides those related to seismic phenomena. One of them, of course, could be attributed to Divine intervention: an exercise of punitive justice and a warning. A father does not become bad because he punishes his children, as the Book of Sirach says, Whoever loves his son will beat him frequently so that in after years the son may be his comfort (Sir 30: 1).

            I know this will be scandalous to some people. It is too venturesome to insinuate that certain human disgraces may carry the threat of an avenging God. As if it were impossible that that this should be a punishment from God or if it were not His duty to correct and direct his children for their own good!

            I remember when the Aids epidemic started to spread throughout the world. Everyone knew it coincided with the appearance of Homosexuality as a universal phenomenon: legalized, praised, proclaimed and extolled (gay pride) for the first time in recorded history; and everyone also knew that at that time it was the most common cause of the transmission of this sickness, which caused many to speak of a possible Divine punishment. This suggestion is not too out of the ordinary. It may or may not be a punishment from above; no one can pretend to have sufficient reasons to know, though evidently it can’t be ruled out as a possibility. But the Vatican’s response was out of the ordinary, since, through an official statement (I don’t remember exactly which organism made it public), it was proclaimed that Aids was not a divine punishment. The knowledge of this announcement and the ensuing discrediting of divine wrath was a relief to me, though I must admit that at the same time it filled me with astonishment: how did the Vatican know that the epidemic was not a punishment from God? Had there maybe been some revelation? At least it wasn’t a public revelation, since this was already well closed.  Then could it possibly have been a private revelation received by officials of the Curia? My small knowledge of Church History and of Christian spirituality did not give me enough footing to imagine Vatican officials receiving extraordinary gifts from the supernatural world. And, either way, it was useless to investigate it, since no one is obliged to believe any private revelation; and even less can anyone try to impose it on others by decree. One thing was certain, though: the Aids epidemic could not be a blessing from God; and much less so when the main cause for the transmission of this illness was so well known.

            I am aware that with the way things are in today’s world, talking of Divine punishment and relating it to concrete events puts one in danger of ending up in a Mental Health institution. Nevertheless, examining the facts calmly, everyone knows that the world has gone mad, even though they may not say it or may say just the opposite. His holiness, Benedict XVI, has just solemnly announced that the Church is definitively committed to Ecumenism, without any possibility of turning back. This is praiseworthy, as is generally everything the Pope says: it will always be good to go out and meet the separated brothers in order to become reunited with them. And I say go out to meet them because now speaking about brothers that have to come back to the fold is looked down on. There are no heretics now, therefore there is no reason for anyone to convert; and that is why the Church is not so interested in being missionary. All of this might be great, though it would be better (I venture to say) if before we go out to meet those who have left and gone far away, we try to reunite those who are still inside. For internal divisions in the Church today are so great, and there is such rampant confusion, that both are capable of worrying everyone. Today, the internal ideological distances among Catholics are more profound than those with other Christian confessions: conservatives versus traditionalists; Lefebvre's supporters  versus defenders of the Second Vatican Council; those who are faithfully obedient to Rome versus autonomous Conferences of Bishops; supporters of the mass of Paul VI versus those who prefer the traditional Latin Form; advocates of ordinary liturgy versus those supporters of the folkloric ceremonies of the Neo-Catechumenal Way; defenders of abortion versus combatants in the pro-life movement; socialist Catholics versus old-school Catholics; believers in the Magisterium of the Church versus disciples of Karl Rahner; etc., etc.

Haiti’s population is mostly Christian (around sixty percent), but this is the official data; the reality is very different. The general corruption in all orders, the widespread practice of voodoo religion and other forms of superstitions and diabolical cults, have made Haiti a place in which the practice of Christianity is in a state of almost total decomposition. It is the only country in the world officially consecrated to the devil (August 14, 1791). Also, President Arístide (Salesian, by the way), in a decree on April 4, 2003, recognized voodoo as a religion with full rights.

Finally, two clarifications:

First, if it really is a punishment from on High, we may suppose that this catastrophe is just the beginning: for Haiti, of course, ... and for the rest of the world.

On the other hand, to suppose that Haiti is the country with the greatest iniquity would be not only too much of a statement but most certainly also a false one.