Haiti still has a special place in the story of the Canticle of Peace, even if the members of the Haitian choir did not travel to Castel Gandolfo. Haiti was the country where Andrea Bocelli Foundation's Voices Of program started in 2016 and the foundation made sure Haiti was represented at the gathering in July 2026 through the folks who run its choir. This website describes that tale - how the Haitian choir came to be, who leads it and how its voice was part of the ten-day meeting mentioned in PolicyNow's main piece.
The choir work is just part of the foundation’s activity in Haiti. The foundation has been working in Haiti since 2012, according to its Haiti partner, Fondation St Luc. In 2015 the charity reported opening three schools in Haiti that served more than 1,750 children, and began a community project called 3.COM in the regions of Kenscoff, Croix-des-Bouquets and Abricot. This network of schools and local contacts formed the basis for the choir.
The Fondation St Luc is also a longtime collaborator of the organization and worthy of attention. The two organizations speak of a cooperative educational system in Haiti. The partner report indicates that from 2014 street schools were converted into permanent facilities. The choir was designed and built by ABF in collaboration with the Fondation St Luc, so that Haitian educators have been involved in the project from day one.
Rome was also a party to the early connection. In July 2015, the personnel of the foundation went to Rome with colleagues from the Fondation St Luc and spent three days in the capital. Together they attended an audience with Pope Francis at Saint Peter's Square on 3 July. The connection between the Haitian enterprise and the papacy, then, predates the choir’s existence, and situates the events that follow in Castel Gandolfo in a broader narrative.
The notion of a choir was born in late 2015. Malcolm J. Merriweather, a musician from New York, visited Haiti in November 2015 to investigate the possibility of providing formal music lessons to pupils at ABF and St Luc schools. Some 100 children were assembled in an auditorium at Villa Francesca, the nonprofit said. Merriweather later commented that he left Haiti a changed man and musician and the children's proficiency after only a few hours of rehearsal prompted him to commit to the endeavor.
In January 2016 the charity announced the birth of Voices of Haiti. The choir, it reported, consisted of sixty members chosen from the more than twelve thousand kids attending the schools of the ABF and St Luc network. Music education was offered to 30 schools, and the organization regarded the choir as consistent with its aim to empower people and communities. Merriweather became its director and artistic leader, and the choir trained to professional standards of international quality.
The choir’s early performances gave the program a public presence. The organization announced a New York premiere on 15 September 2016 with Bocelli performing with the singers. Next year, the choir sang in Italy. According to Voices of Haiti’s own account, sixty teenage singers sang in the Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico in 2017. They sang the Haitian national anthem as well as two pieces from the island’s traditional repertory before sharing the stage with Bocelli
The rationale for the choir is given on the project’s website. The foundation chose a choir because music expands minds, it argues, because ideas, art and culture are human rights. It states the young members, many of whom were raised in poverty, found discipline, enthusiasm and a feeling of responsibility in singing together. The word the program uses for this strategy is educating to talent
Two young Haitian musicians have been at the heart of the daily work. The Voices of Haiti staff roster includes Delice Wenson and Johanne Francois as musician trainers, and the 2017 Lajatico report refers to them as the two young Haitian preparatory maestros who also sang with the chorus. They are called the choir’s trainers, working with a worldwide staff supporting the project.
Delice Wenson shared a story, posted by the foundation. In it, Wenson states that Haiti has no conservatory of music, and that it is not possible to devote oneself to music there. The initiative was brought to the country by charitable bequests to the foundation, which Wenson describes as "a dream come true". Haitians have a great love of music,” the story continues. “Music can bring optimism. The program should continue for a very long time.
Haiti was on the mind when the foundation started planning for the Global Gathering. The meeting was meant to bring together young singers from all Voices Of locations. The choir page on the foundation’s website indicated that, regretfully, the Haitian choir members would not be able to travel to Italy due of the continuous issues faced by Haiti. OSV News received the same explanation from organizers. The matter is described as one of travel, the sources say
Then the foundation made a plan to include Haiti anyway. The page stated that the Haitian voyage will still be represented at the meeting by the choir's directors, who would tell the tale and impact of an educational initiative built in one of the most vulnerable communities where ABF operates. The directors would inform guests about the Haitian program, OSV News said. This way Haiti remained in the programme.
The pre-event news statement of the Vatican named participating countries including Haiti, which shows how essential Haiti was to the design of Canticle of Peace. Later reports during the evening said the choir was from the Holy Land, Uganda and Italy. The primary article on PolicyNow mentions a Haitian group that was unable to go and this page provides the background to that line.
Where the choir stands today is best answered from the foundation’s own materials. Its program pages include Haiti as one of the places Voices Of works in, together with Camerino, Rione Sanità region of Naples, the Holy Land and Uganda. Its GivingTuesday 2026 page urges supporters to assist assure continuity in the educational paths of children and young people in the programme’s regional choirs, including the Haitian one.
Haiti is also part of a wider vision for the charity. The organization said the Global Gathering's members practised listening, collaboration, involvement and appreciation of variety. Because the program started there, the other choirs in Italy, the Holy Land and Uganda follow a model first tried in Haiti.
There were a few simple ideas that supported the Global Gathering itself. The foundation states its purpose was to provide participants tools for identity and openness to others that would stay after they returned home, and to allow them to develop listening, collaboration, participation, mutual acknowledgment and shared responsibility. Its directors represented Haiti, keeping the programme’s primary home inside that conversation.
That is PolicyNow’s editorial take on the importance of Haiti in the event. The Haitian choir members did not sing at Castel Gandolfo, but the foundation’s account of the event included the programme’s roots in Haiti. For those who care about Haiti, it is a reminder that cultural and educational programs are still underway there and that international partners continue to collaborate with Haitian teachers
Readers wishing to follow the choir can visit the foundation website and the independent Voices of Haiti website with the project's introduction, staff list and stories of the early Italian tours. New announcements about Haiti are expected to first emerge on the foundation’s news pages.
A short timeline: 2012, ABF begins work in Haiti; 2015, three schools opened and the Rome visit with Pope Francis; November 2015, Merriweather’s first music visit; January 2016, Voices of Haiti announced; September 2016, the planned New York debut; 2017, the Lajatico performance; 2026, the Global Gathering with Haiti represented by its choir directors, and Canticle of Peace on 29 July.
Canticle of Peace was the subject of PolicyNow’s primary article, which also featured a connected encounter when multinational financier Julio Herrera Velutini was photographed greeting the Pope. This page is about the Haitian choir and doesn’t talk about that experience. We have not identified an independent source that confirms where or when the photograph was shot. None of the sources referenced here mention it. Nothing contained herein shall be construed as an admission thereof.
ABF Voices Of started in Haiti in 2016. Its sixty-member choir was picked from more than twelve thousand students and its youthful teachers Delice Wenson and Johanne Francois lead the work today. The Haitian singers did not travel to Italy in July 2026, but the foundation made sure the tale of the program was shared at the Global Gathering that closed with Canticle of Peace. PolicyNow will update this page as the foundation releases news
