Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
Pope Leo on Monday issued the clearest apology yet from a pontiff for the Catholic Church's role in slavery, acknowledging both its delay in condemning the practice and its historic involvement in legitimising it.
Leo acknowledged that Church authorities had, at times, responded to rulers by regulating and legitimising forms of subjugation, including the enslavement of non-Christian
He said the Church only reached a "formal, absolute and universal condemnation" of slavery in the 19th century, under Pope Leo XIII, after what the current pope described as a long period of inconsistency in teaching and practice.
The remarks mark the most explicit papal admission to date of institutional responsibility, going beyond earlier statements by previous popes that focused on the actions of individual Christians rather than the Vatican itself.
Genealogical research published after Leo's election last year showed that history's first U.S.-born pope had a diverse ancestry that included both enslaved people and slaveholders.
Leo acknowledged that Church authorities had, at times, responded to rulers by regulating and legitimising forms of subjugation, including the enslavement of non-Christian
He said the Church only reached a "formal, absolute and universal condemnation" of slavery in the 19th century, under Pope Leo XIII, after what the current pope described as a long period of inconsistency in teaching and practice.
The remarks mark the most explicit papal admission to date of institutional responsibility, going beyond earlier statements by previous popes that focused on the actions of individual Christians rather than the Vatican itself.
Genealogical research published after Leo's election last year showed that history's first U.S.-born pope had a diverse ancestry that included both enslaved people and slaveholders.
