Pope Leo XIV Apologizes for the Holy See’s Own Role in Legitimizing Slavery
The first U.S.-born pope links the Church’s slavery legacy to AI, urging regulation and warning that digital systems can deepen exploitation.
- On Monday, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas," issuing a historic apology for the Vatican's role in legitimizing slavery and failing to condemn it for centuries.
- A series of 15th-century Vatican directives, including the papal bull "Dum Diversas" issued in 1452, authorized Portuguese sovereigns to "invade, conquer, fight and subjugate" non-Christians and reduce them to perpetual slavery.
- The U.S.-born Pope, whose family history includes both enslaved people and slaveholders according to genealogical research, connected the trans-Atlantic slave trade to modern "forms of slavery" fueled by unregulated labor for AI chips.
- Leo responded to decades of calls by Black American Catholics, activists, and scholars for the Holy See to atone for its colonial-era role—the first time a pope has publicly acknowledged the Vatican's direct involvement in authorizing subjugation.
- Stating "This constitutes a wound in Christian memory," Leo warned the Church must condemn modern trafficking to avoid needing future pardons, emphasizing respect for human dignity as essential to Christian faith.
178 Articles
178 Articles
Pope apologises for Vatican’s role in justifying slavery
Pope Leo XIV on Monday issued an unprecedented apology for the Vatican’s role in justifying slavery and said the delay in condemning the practice was “a wound in Christian memory”. In a major text warning about the risk of “new forms of slavery” behind the digital economy, Leo said Church institutions owned slaves until the Middle Ages. “In the early modern period, the Apostolic See of Rome, responding to requests from sovereigns, intervened sev…
Pope’s apology for Holy See’s slavery role
Pope Leo XIV made a historic apology on Monday for the role the Holy See itself played in legitimising slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries, calling the Vatican’s record a “wound in Christian memory”.
Pope apologizes for Vatican’s role in legitimizing slavery
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV made a historic apology on Monday for the Holy See’s role in legitimizing slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries, calling the Vatican’s record a “wound in Christian memory.”
Vatican Slavery Apology From Pope Leo XIV Acknowledges Historic Complicity
Pope Leo XIV has issued a historic apology that quietly rewrites one of the Church's most carefully avoided chapters, forcing Catholics worldwide to confront a legacy it has long struggled even to name. Appearing in his first encyclical, the statement marks the first time a pope has publicly acknowledged the Holy See's own complicity in authorising European rulers to enslave non‑Christians during the colonial era. The apology has reopened raw de…
Pope Leo Makes Historic Apology for Church's Past Role in Supporting Slavery and Singles Out AI in Major Manifesto
The pontiff has described artificial intelligence, though a “valuable tool,” as one of the biggest threats to humanityPope Leo XIVCredit: GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via GettyNEED TO KNOWPope Leo XIV, in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, apologized for past pontiffs’ roles in legitimizing slaveryHis address focuses on artificial intelligence and calls for regulation and ethical oversight of the rapidly evolving technologyLeo noted AI is a “valuab…
In his first papal encyclical, the Pope links the Church's role in the slave trade to new forms of exploitation in the AI industry.
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