Pope Leo XIV on Monday issued the strongest acknowledgement yet from the Catholic Church over the Vatican’s historic role in legitimising slavery. He apologised for centuries of silence and church-backed systems that allowed the enslavement of non-Christians during the colonial era.
In his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), the first US-born pope described the Church’s delayed condemnation of slavery as a “wound in Christian memory” and formally asked forgiveness on behalf of the institution.
“For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon,” Leo wrote.
While previous popes had apologised for the actions of Christians involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, no pope before Leo had directly acknowledged the role played by the Holy See itself in authorising and legitimising slavery through official papal decrees.
The apology marked a watershed moment for the Vatican, which for decades resisted direct accountability despite mounting pressure from Black Catholics, historians and anti-racism advocates demanding the Church confront its own role in legitimising and sustaining colonial-era slavery, rather than hiding behind broad expressions of regret over human suffering.
VATICAN’S HISTORIC ROLE UNDER FRESH SCRUTINY
Leo’s apology touched on one of the most painful chapters in Church history, when Vatican-backed decrees helped justify colonial expansion and the enslavement of non-Christians across Africa and the Americas.
One of the most cited examples came in 1452, when Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, granting Portugal permission to “invade, conquer and subjugate” non-Christian populations and reduce them to “perpetual slavery”.
The decree later became part of what came to be known as the “Doctrine of Discovery”, a theological and legal framework used by European empires to justify colonial expansion across Africa and the Americas.
Although the Vatican formally rejected the Doctrine of Discovery in 2023, critics argued that the Church never fully addressed the original decrees themselves or the damage they caused over centuries.
Leo acknowledged that reality directly in his encyclical.
“Already in the early modern period, the Apostolic See of Rome intervened several times in order to regulate and legitimize forms of subjugation,” he wrote.
The pope also admitted that the Church arrived late in recognising slavery as morally incompatible with Christian teachings.
“It took eighteen centuries for its full incompatibility with slavery to be explicitly recognized,” he said.
APOLOGY TIED TO MODERN FORMS OF SLAVERY
Leo’s apology was not delivered as a standalone historical statement. Instead, it came as part of a broader warning about what he described as modern systems of exploitation created by the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and digital technology.
The encyclical focused heavily on labour exploitation, surveillance capitalism and the global race for rare minerals needed to manufacture AI chips and advanced technologies.
Leo argued that humanity risked repeating old patterns of exploitation under new economic systems if governments and corporations failed to act responsibly.
He warned that future generations could once again demand apologies from institutions that ignored human dignity for the sake of profit and technological dominance.
The pope said the Church must firmly oppose new forms of trafficking and exploitation connected to the digital revolution “if we want to avoid the need to ask for pardon again in the future”.
The comparison between historic slavery and modern economic exploitation gave the apology added weight, especially as global debates over AI ethics, labour abuse and mineral extraction continue to intensify.
Leo’s comments also carried personal significance.
According to news agency AP, genealogical research previously published by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. found that the pope’s own American family history included both enslaved people and slaveholders. Several of Leo’s ancestors were listed in historical records as Black, Creole or free people of colour.
– Ends
With inputs from agencies
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