Pope Leo XIV Apologized For The Vatican’s Role In Slavery

Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, released his first encyclical on Monday. And buried inside this sweeping document about artificial intelligence and the future of humanity was something no pope had ever done before: a direct, unambiguous apology for the Vatican’s own role in slavery.

Not a generic “Christians participated” or vague expressions of sorrow. An admission that past popes gave European kings explicit permission to enslave “infidels.” And a call for pardon.

Here is what the Associated Press reported:

Leo raised the trans-Atlantic slave trade in relation to what he called the new forms of slavery and colonialism that the digital revolution is fueling, such as the unregulated labor practices in procuring rare minerals needed for AI chips.

“It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” Leo wrote. “For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

The Vatican has insisted that it always upheld the dignity of all human beings as children of God. But a series of 15th-century directives from the Vatican authorized Portuguese sovereigns to conquer Africa and the Americas and enslave non-Christians.

In 1452, for example, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, which gave the Portuguese king and his successors the right “to invade, conquer, fight and subjugate” and take all possessions – including land – of “Saracens, pagans, and other infidels, and enemies of the name of Christ” anywhere. The bull also gave the Portuguese permission “to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.”

Pope Leo Asked For Pardon And Put Other Leaders To Shame

Pope Leo XIV just did something no American president has ever had the guts to do. He apologized for his own institution’s role in slavery – the Vatican’s explicit permission for European kings to enslave “infidels.” He called it a wound in Christian memory. And this man has both enslaved people and slave owners in his own family history.

An apology is a start, but where are the reparations? Words without deeds ring hollow. The Vatican benefited from slavery. So did Europe. So did America. While Congress has passed apology resolutions for slavery and Jim Crow, no sitting U.S. president has delivered the kind of direct institutional apology Pope Leo just offered.

Neither has the British head of state, King Charles, who is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England. He has expressed “personal sorrow” over slavery and acknowledged “painful aspects” of Britain’s past, but the Crown has still not issued a formal apology. The monarch talks about learning lessons and avoiding division. The government talks about “facing forward” and focusing on contemporary challenges. Meanwhile, an American pope with Black ancestry took the microphone and said, “I sincerely ask for pardon.”

So what exactly is the excuse for other institutions failing to do the same? The same people who scream about “cancel culture” cannot bring themselves to say, “We are sorry for enslaving millions of human beings for centuries.” Pope Leo apologized for a church that gave permission to enslave. America and Britain cannot even apologize for enslaving Africans.