Pope Leo XIV Apologizes for the Holy See’s Own Role in Legitimizing Slavery
Leo said the church must condemn new forms of trafficking tied to artificial intelligence and asked pardon for centuries of silence.
- 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.
106 Articles
106 Articles
Pope Leo says Catholic Church's legitimizing of slavery is a wound
Pope Leo XIV apologized on Monday for the Catholic Church’s legitimization of slavey, saying the delay in denouncing the practice was a “wound in Christian memory.” Leo, the first American pope, released his first encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas.” The 43,000-word manifesto focused on the rise of artificial intelligence and how the church should respond to protect human dignity in the digital age. “A significant part of the digital econom…
Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Vatican’s role in legitimizing slavery - The Boston Globe
History’s first US-born pope, whose family history includes both enslaved people and slave owners, delivered the apology in his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas.”
Vatican City, Holy See. Pope Leo XIV asked forgiveness for the long delay of the Catholic Church in condemning slavery, calling it “a wound in Christian memory” in its first encyclical, published on Monday. “In the name of the Church, I sincerely ask forgiveness,” wrote León in this text which sets out the positions of the Church on various issues, including artificial intelligence (IA). In the past, popes have apologized for the participation o…
Pope Leo apologises for Vatican’s role in slave trade and brands it a ‘wound in Christian memory’
Pope Leo issued an unprecedented apology on Monday for the Vatican's direct involvement in legitimising the slave trade, marking the first occasion a pontiff has sought forgiveness for the Holy See's own complicity rather than merely that of individual Christians.The American-born pope delivered this historic acknowledgement through his inaugural encyclical, titled "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity), describing the Church's record as "…
In his first encyclical, the sovereign pontiff recognizes for the first time the institutional responsibility of the Holy See in legitimizing slavery during history The Pope
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