Pope Denounces ‘Suffering and Humiliation’ of African Enslaved People
Leo said 100,000 Africans were brought to Peru as he expressed remorse for slavery and discrimination against Afro-Peruvians.
- On Saturday, Pope Leo XIV denounced the "suffering and humiliation" endured by African enslaved people during a visit to Zaña, Peru, a UNESCO-recognized memorial site for slavery and center of Afro-Peruvian culture.
- The visit follows Leo's sweeping apology in his encyclical, "Magnificent Humanity," for the Vatican's role in legitimizing the African slave trade in the Americas and failing to condemn slavery for centuries.
- Leo's maternal great-grandparents were "free people of color" in 19th-century Louisiana, creating a personal link to the history he addressed; Zaña houses an Afro-Peruvian museum preserving records of enslaved people.
- Peruvian musician Baca, the nation's first Black Cabinet minister, praised the Pope's emphasis on forgiveness, saying "we did not remain submerged despite our history of suffering."
- Addressing modern regional challenges, Leo acknowledged families suffer from crime and extortion, stating "I am pained at the thought of those who live in fear" and those whose labor remains under threat.
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29 Articles
Pope denounces ‘suffering and humiliation’ of African enslaved people
The U.S.-born Leo, whose own family tree includes enslaved people and slave owners, delivered the remarks in the northern Peruvian city of Zaña, a UNESCO-recognized memorial site for slavery and a center of the Afro-Peruvian community today.
Leon XIV criticizes colonialism by evoking “the memory of generations of African men and women removed from their homes and subjected to slavery”
In Zaña, Peru, where he travelled to close the Jubilee Year for the 300 years of the canonization of Saint Toribio of Mogrovejo, the Pope said that "the memory of generations of African men and women" subjected to slavery is preserved, who "have suffered great sufferings and humiliations".
Catholic World Report
National Catholic RegisterPope Leo XIV deplores the ‘great suffering and humiliation’ of Afro-Peruvians
At the shrine where St. Turibius died, the pope offered his “affection and closeness” to Peruvians of African descent and lamented crime and extortion in his former diocese. [...]
During his visit to the shrine of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the Afro-descendant memory of Zaña in Lambayeque.
Pope Leo XIV visited Zaña, Peru, and recognized the historical suffering of Afro-Peruvians subjected to slavery, expressing affection and proximity to the community.
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