From the Friars: On the Popes and Slavery
As we celebrate “Juneteenth” this week, it seems like a good time to reflect on Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical Letter, “Magnifica Humanitas”, in which he asks pardon for a “wound on Christian memory”: the Church’s stance on slavery through the centuries.
This is a mixed bag to be sure, but one that needs to be reviewed for greater clarity and an understanding. Obviously, an article of this size cannot do it justice. My sources come from two books : Timeless by Steve Weidenkopf and The Worst of Indignities by Paul Kengor.
While slavery was an accepted practice in the Ancient World, slaves were recognized as equals among Christians. For instance, Popes Sts. Linus, Anacletus, and Clement I (who ruled before the end of the first century) were former slaves, as was St. Callixtus I (d. 222). (My guess is that they were personally opposed to slavery). Opposition to slavery grew as Christianity grew, and by the 600’s, slavery was abolished in Europe.
When slavery returned with the conquest of the Canary Islands in 1435, Pope Eugene IV issued “Sicut Dudum” (1435) which demanded that Christians free all of the enslaved natives within 15 days or be excommunicated. In 1537, Paul III issued “Sublimus Dei” which taught that native peoples “are not to be reduced to slavery and that whatever happens to the contrary is to be considered null and void”. In 1639, Pope Urban VIII issued “Commissum Nobis” supporting King Philip IV’s edict which prohibited the enslavement of Indians in the New World. In the 1680’s the Holy Office of Pope Innocent XI’s Magisterium taught not only the wrongness of slavery but also the obligation of captors, buyers, and owners of slaves to free and compensate them. I could go on, but one gets the point.
It’s true that Pope Nicholas V during the 1450’s issued bulls affirming the capture and enslavement of “infidels” (mostly Muslims)–the “wound” to which Pope Leo refers. Yet, the historical context was the Fall of Constantinople which presented a real threat to Christendom as such. Of course, this does not condone such proclamations, but it illustrates that it was a step backward in the overall promotion of human dignity and freedom which the Church has always sought throughout the centuries.
–Fr. Andrew