Pope Leo Makes Historic Slavery Apology Amid Ghana’s Push For Reparations

• Pope Leo XIV has apologised for the Catholic Church's historical role in legitimising the slave trade
• The pope delivered the apology in his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” which was released on May 25
• The Catholic Church has previously acknowledged its complicity in the trans-Atlantic slave trade

Pope Leo XIV has made a historic apology for the role the Holy See itself played in legitimising slavery and for having failed to condemn it for centuries.

Leo called the church’s actions a wound in Christian memory.

Past popes have apologised for Christians’ involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but no pope has ever publicly acknowledged the role that past popes have played in the trade.

AP reported that Leo delivered the apology in his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” which was released Monday.

The sweeping manifesto is about safeguarding humanity in an era of increasing reliance on artificial intelligence.

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 required to procure rare minerals needed for AI chips.

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In doing so, Leo responded to decades of calls by Black American Catholics, activists and scholars for the Holy See to atone for its own role in the colonial-era trade in human beings.

In his encyclical, Leo recalled that his namesake, Pope Leo XIII was the first pope to explicitly condemn slavery in 1888, long after many countries had already abolished it.

Ghana's push for slavery reparations

Ghana has been at the forefront of moves to ensure continued justice related to the transatlantic slave trade. The country has received widespread praise for these efforts from the black diaspora.

In March, it had a successful resolution to declare the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity, in which it secured majority support at the UN.

Delivering a victory speech, President John Mahama, who championed the reparatory resolution on behalf of the African Union, recounted the events leading up to the UN address.

Ghana secured majority support for its resolution to declare the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity, with 123 nations voting in favour.

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According to the results, three nations voted against the historic resolution while 52 abstained.

The three dissenting nations were the United States of America, Argentina, and Israel, while EU nations also dominated the abstentions.

Countries like the UK have long rejected paying reparations, arguing that nations and institutions of today cannot be held responsible for past wrongs.

Mahama criticises Trump over black history

YEN.com.gh reported that Mahama had criticised the Trump administration for its handling of black history and accused it of normalising the ‌erasure of the past.

The Ghanaian president said certain policies by the United States of America are becoming a template for ⁠other governments, as well as some private institutions.

Mahama stated that black history courses were ​being removed from school curricula and institutions were being mandated to stop teaching the truth of slavery.

Source: YEN.com.gh