Pope Leo XIV Asks ‘Pardon’ for Vatican’s Role in Trans-Atlantic Slavery

Pope Leo XIV is apologizing for the Holy See’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.The historic statement is included in an encyclical on artificial intelligence the leader of the Roman Catholic church released on Monday. Encyclicals are one of the highest forms of teaching from a pontiff.In “Magnifica Humanitas” or “Magnificent Humanity,” the first major document he has released since becoming the leader of the world’s more than one billion Catholics, Pope Leo said the church waited too long to denounce “the scourge of slavery.”“This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached,” Pope Leo wrote. “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. For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”Pope Leo noted that the church had intervened several times to legitimize forms of subjugation and the enslavement of “infidels” by European sovereigns. The Vatican authorized 15th-century Portuguese sovereigns to conquer Africa and the Americas and enslave non-Christians. A series of pontiffs continued that permission.Pope Leo also noted that in the Middle Ages, even church institutions had slaves.Monday’s document is the first time a pope has publicly acknowledged and apologized for the role past pontiffs have played in the slave trade. Pope John Paul II, in 1985, apologized to black Africans for the involvement of white Christians in the slave trade, but did not elaborate on the Holy See’s role.The pontiff released the document on Monday. He had originally signed it on May 15 to mark the 135th anniversary of an encyclical by his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, that addressed changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution.The pontiff’s request for forgiveness came as he warned that AI might bring new forms of slavery. One example the Pope provided was young people engaged in “essential yet largely unseen activities” such as content moderation often involving disturbing material. Pope Leo also said that children and adolescents in parts of the world are working in dangerous conditions as part of the extraction process for the rare-earth elements needed for the microchips that power AI hardware.“The fight against new forms of slavery is a decisive test for the ethical discernment of AI and digital transformation,” Pope Leo wrote. “The growing power of digital systems could lead us toward new atrocities that are no less shameful than those of the past that we now deplore, while we continue to present ourselves as ‘advanced’ and ‘civilized’ societies,” he added.A co-founder of the AI firm Anthropic, Christopher Olah, was in attendance at the Vatican for the public release of the encyclical. He spoke of the potential impact of AI on the world. “There is a real possibility that AI will displace human labor at a very large scale. If that happens, supporting those displaced will be a moral imperative of historic proportions,” Mr. Olah said.

Pope Leo XIV Asks ‘Pardon’ for Vatican’s Role in Trans-Atlantic Slavery

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