Leo XIV ‘apologised’ for the Church’s supposed role in slavery, and failure to end it. This talk considers the accuracy of such claims.
This weekend, I delivered a talk at an event organised by a Catholic men’s group, titled ‘The Catholic Church and the Ending of Slavery.’
On several occasions previously, the Church condemned the trans-Atlantic slave trade. But Pope Leo XIII, referring to slavery as a “gloomy plague”, called for Catholics to align themselves with the abolitionist movement of his time – and was instrumental in achieving the great good of finally ending slavery.
Image based on By Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) and either William Hackwood or Henry Webber; PBS – British Abolition Movement, Public Domain.
But the circumstances around this issue present a similar problem to Catholics as that of usury, in that they give superficial grounds for thinking that the Church has changed her teaching. But if this is so, then where does this leave the Church’s claims? And what really is the truth of the matter?
The talk was based on the article published earlier in the year at LifeSiteNews, which considered Leo XIV’s apologies for slavery in his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas:
The talk is available on podcast apps, and on YouTube:
This article was received well at the time. Bishop Sanborn even said of Leo XIV, on one of his regular livestreams:
“Well, he doesn’t know his history, I would say. Let him read Seán Wright’s excellent article, and he’ll find out a lot of things.”
I also followed up the article with some reflections on how the Church approached the comparable issue of gladiatorial blood sports in the Roman Empire, which you can see here:
In addition to this article, my colleague Matthew McCusker wrote an overview of the encyclical itself:
Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas: a blueprint for the destruction of the Catholic Church (Matthew McCusker)
In the past, McCusker and myself have also written other analyses of issues Leo XIV addresses in the encyclical:
Has Leo XIV contradicted Catholic teaching on just war? (Matthew McCusker)
Report: Leo XIV says ‘our task is not to build a Christendom’ (Matthew McCusker)
What does the Catholic Church say about immigration? (S.D. Wright)
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