Pope Leo has issued the most explicit papal apology to date for the Catholic Church’s historic role in slavery, acknowledging institutional failures spanning centuries. In his debut encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas,” Leo admitted the Church was slow to universally condemn slavery. He asked forgiveness “in the name of the Church” for the suffering endured by enslaved people. Leo noted that Church authorities had at times regulated and legitimized subjugation, including the enslavement of non-Christians, and that medieval ecclesiastical institutions had owned enslaved people. The statement goes further than previous Vatican apologies, which focused largely on the actions of individual Christians rather than institutional responsibility. Leo, history’s first US-born pope, has ancestry linked to both enslaved people and slaveholders.
CNBC Africa
