Chibly Langlois was born on 29 November 1958 in La Vallée, in the diocese of Jacmel, Haiti, to a poor family. He studied at the Christian Brothers School in La Vallée and the Petit Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial in Port-au-Prince, entered the Grand Séminaire Notre-Dame in Port-au-Prince in 1985, and was ordained a priest on 22 September 1991. From 1994 to 1996 he studied at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, earning a licentiate in pastoral theology with a dissertation on the new evangelization as a work of inculturation in Haiti. He served as vicar of Jacmel Cathedral, directed catechetical and pastoral formation in the diocese, and taught pastoral theology at the Grand Séminaire Notre-Dame.
Appointed Bishop of Fort-Liberté on 8 April 2004 and consecrated on 6 June 2004, he became a leader in rebuilding and spiritual support after the January 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti. On 15 August 2011 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Les Cayes, and in December 2011 he became president of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti.
Pope Francis created him a cardinal in the consistory of 22 February 2014, assigning him the titular church of San Giacomo in Augusta; he was the first Haitian cardinal in history and the only man in that consistory who was not an archbishop. On 14 August 2021 he was injured when the bishop's residence in Les Cayes partially collapsed in a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that killed a priest and two employees there; in a Caritas Internationalis webinar the following month he described a Church on the front lines amid poverty, gang violence and natural disaster. He participated as a cardinal elector in the 2025 conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
Consequential Quotes
The Church is present practically everywhere in the country.
But the church also suffers because we too are a victim of these natural catastrophes.
This celebration is a profound gesture of solidarity by the Church in the United States and the Church in Haiti with more than 350,000 people who now find themselves in this difficult situation.
We gather not only to pray, but also to remind one another that we are one family in Christ. When one member of the Body of Christ suffers, the whole Body suffers with it.
We bring our anxieties before God, but we do not lose hope.
Major Works & Initiatives
La nouvelle évangélisation, oeuvre d'inculturation en Haïti
Licentiate dissertation in pastoral theology, Pontifical Lateran University, Rome — on the new evangelization as a work of inculturation in Haiti.
Earthquake rebuilding leadership in Fort-Liberté
As Bishop of Fort-Liberté, a leader in rebuilding efforts and spiritual support after the January 2010 earthquake, per the Holy See biography.
President of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti
President of Haiti's bishops' conference since December 2011, per the Holy See biography; led the conference through the post-earthquake years and the country's subsequent crises.
Member of the Dicastery for Communication
Curial membership recorded in the Holy See biography; in May 2014 he was also named to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Controversies
On the record
No significant public controversies reported.