Descendants of enslaved people once owned and sold by the Jesuits, along with Black Catholic leaders and scholars, are welcoming a historic apology issued by Pope Leo XIV for the Catholic Church’s role in slavery.
The apology appears in Magnifica Humanitas, the pope’s first encyclical. While the document primarily addresses artificial intelligence and human dignity, one passage has generated significant attention for directly confronting the Church’s historical involvement in slavery.
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In the encyclical, Leo acknowledged that Church institutions owned slaves in earlier centuries and that the Apostolic See had at times sanctioned forms of enslavement. Describing slavery as “a wound in Christian memory,” he concluded with a direct appeal: “For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”
For many observers, the significance of the statement lies in its recognition of institutional responsibility rather than placing blame solely on individuals.
Monique Trusclair Maddox, whose organization represents descendants of the 272 enslaved people sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to help stabilize the finances of Georgetown University, described the apology as an important milestone.
“I felt like he was actually making a step beyond, to bring the enslavement of my family and other Catholic families to the forefront,” she said, adding that she views the apology as “the first step” in a longer process of healing and reconciliation.
The Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation was established through collaboration between descendants and Jesuit leaders to address the legacy of the 1838 slave sale through education, dialogue, and restorative justice initiatives.
Jesuit priest Timothy Kesicki argued that acknowledgments of historical wrongdoing are never too late.
“I don’t believe that our sins have an expiration date,” he said, emphasizing that healing requires recognition of past harms.
Historians and theologians also welcomed the statement while noting its limitations.
Bryan Massingale praised the pope for acknowledging that Church-approved institutions played a role in slavery rather than portraying it solely as the work of rogue individuals.
However, Massingale noted that the encyclical does not address how racial ideology and white supremacy were intertwined with slavery and colonialism.
“The document is important,” he said. “I think it’s a positive step, but it’s a very limited step, especially when dealing with something that’s so complicated and complex in a single paragraph.”
Similarly, Nate Tinner-Williams called the apology significant because it represents one of the clearest acknowledgments by a pope of the Church’s institutional role in sustaining slavery.
He also noted the symbolism of the statement coming from the first American pope and the first pope known to have African ancestry.
Others stressed that meaningful reconciliation will require continued action.
Barbara Spears welcomed the apology but emphasized that words alone are not enough.
“Words are empty without actions,” she said. “I hope it will keep the conversation going. It will force us to begin to work.”
Many descendants, scholars, and Catholic leaders view the pope’s apology not as the conclusion of the Church’s reckoning with slavery, but as the beginning of a broader conversation about historical accountability, racial justice, and reconciliation within the global Catholic community.
