The Popes and Slavery: Setting the Record Straight 
 
by Fr. Joel S. Panzer 
 
When did the Catholic Church condemn slavery? According to some notable figures, 
the Church did not finally condemn slavery until recently.  
 
Judge John T. Noonan stated that it was not until 1890 that the Church condemned the 
institution of slavery, lagging behind laws enacted to outlaw the practice. He and 
others argue that slavery is one of the areas in which the Church has changed its moral 
teaching to suit the times, and that the time for this change did not come until near the 
end of the last century.  
 
Theologian Laennec Hurbon may be cited as representing a belief among many authors 
that no Pope before 1890 condemned slavery when he stated that, ". . . one can search in 
vain through the interventions of the Holy See-those of Pius V, Urban VIII and Benedict 
XIV-for any condemnation of the actual principle of slavery."  
 
Author John F. Maxwell wrote in his 1975 work on slavery that the Church did not 
correct its teaching on the moral legitimacy of slavery until 1965, with the publication, 
from the Second Vatican Council, of <Gaudium et Spes> (The Pastoral Constitution on 
the Church in the Modern World).  
 
There existed, of course, the practice of various types of slavery before the 15th century. 
However, it was not until the 15th century, and with growing frequency from the 16th 
to the 19th centuries, that racial slavery as we know it became a major problem. It is 
this form of servitude that is called to mind when we think today of the institution of 
slavery, and is the type which was to prevail in parts of the New World for over four 
centuries.  
 
This brings us back to our initial question: When did the Church condemn this slavery? 
If it was not until 1890, or even 1965, then a great shadow has indeed been cast upon 
the Magisterium. If, however, it can be shown that the Magisterium condemned from 
the beginning the colonial slavery that developed in the newly discovered lands, then it 
may be necessary for some historians and others to revise their opinions of that 
teaching office, and of the Catholic Church as well.  
 
From 1435 to 1890, we have numerous bulls and encyclicals from several popes written 
to many bishops and the whole Christian faithful condemning both slavery and the 
slave trade. The very existence of these many papal teachings during this particular 
period of history is a strong indication that from the viewpoint of the Magisterium, 
there must have developed a moral problem of a different sort than any previously 
encountered. In this article I will address three- from many more-of the responses of 
the papal Magisterium to the widespread enslavement that accompanied the Age of 
Discovery and beyond.  
 
Eugene IV: <Sicut Dudum>, 1435 
 
On January 13, 1435, Eugene IV issued from Florence the bull <Sicut Dudum>. Sent to 
Bishop Ferdinand, located at Rubicon on the island of Lanzarote, this bull condemned 
the enslavement of the black natives of the newly colonized Canary Islands off the coast 
of Africa. The Pope stated that after being converted to the faith or promised baptism, 
many of the inhabitants were taken from their homes and enslaved:  
 
"They have deprived the natives of their property or turned it to their own use, and 
have subjected some of the inhabitants of said islands to perpetual slavery 
(<subdiderunt perpetuae servituti>), sold them to other persons and committed other 
various illicit and evil deeds against them.... Therefore We ... exhort, through the 
sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ shed for their sins, one and all, temporal princes, 
lords, captains, armed men, barons, soldiers, nobles, communities and all others of 
every kind among the Christian faithful of whatever state, grade or condition, that they 
themselves desist from the aforementioned deeds, cause those subject to them to desist 
from them, and restrain them rigorously. And no less do We order and command all 
and each of the faithful of each sex that, within the space of fifteen days of the 
publication of these letters in the place where they live, that they restore to their 
pristine liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said 
Canary Islands ... who have been made subject to slavery (<servituti subicere>). These 
people are to be totally and perpetually free and are to be let go without the exaction or 
reception of any money."  
 
The date of this Bull, 1435, is very significant. Nearly 60 years before the Europeans 
were to find the New World, we already had the papal condemnation of slavery as 
soon as this crime was discovered in one of the first of the Portuguese geographical 
discoveries.  
 
Eugene IV was clear in his intentions both to condemn the enslavement of the residents 
of the Canary Islands, and to demand correction of the injustice within 15 days. Those 
who did not restore the enslaved to their liberty in that time were to incur the sentence 
of excommunication ipso facto.  
 
With <Sicut Dudum>, Eugene was clearly intending to condemn the enslavement of 
the people of the Canaries and, in no uncertain terms, to inform the faithful that what 
was being condemned was what we would classify as gravely wrong. Thus, the unjust 
slavery that had begun in the newly found territories was condemned, condemned as 
soon as it was discovered, and condemned in the strongest of terms.  
 
Paul III: <Sublimis Deus>, 1537 
 
The pontifical decree known as "The Sublime God" has indeed had an exalted role in 
the cause of social justice in the New World. Recently, authors such as Gustavo 
Gutierrez have noted this fact: 'The bull of Pope Paul III, <Sublimis Deus> (June 2, 
1537), is regarded as the most important papal pronouncement on the human condition 
of the Indians." It is, moreover, addressed to all of the Christian faithful in the world, 
and not to a particular bishop in one area, thereby not limiting its significance, but 
universalizing it.  
 
<Sublimis Deus> was intended to be issued as the central pedagogical work against 
slavery. Two other bulls would be published to implement the teaching of <Sublimis,> 
one to impose penalties on those who fail to abide by the teaching against slavery, and 
a second to specify the sacramental consequences of the teaching that the Indians are 
true men.  
 
The first central teaching of this beautiful work is the universality of the call to receive 
the Faith and salvation:  
 
"And since mankind, according to the witness of Sacred Scripture, was created for 
eternal life and happiness, and since no one is able to attain this eternal life and 
happiness except through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, it is necessary to confess that 
man is of such a nature and condition that he is capable to receive faith in Christ and 
that everyone who possesses human nature is apt for receiving such faith . . . Therefore 
the Truth Himself Who can neither deceive nor be deceived, when He destined the 
preachers of the faith to the office of preaching, is known to have said: 'Going, make 
disciples of all nations.' 'All,' he said, without any exception, since all are capable of the 
discipline of the faith."  
 
The teaching of <Sublimis> continued:  
 
"Seeing this and envying it, the enemy of the human race, who always opposes all good 
men so that the race may perish, has thought up a way, unheard of before now, by 
which he might impede the saving word of God from being preached to the nations. He 
has stirred up some of his allies who, desiring to satisfy their own avarice, are 
presuming to assert far and wide that the Indians of the West and the South who have 
come to our notice in these times be reduced to our service like brute animals, under 
the pretext that they are lacking the Catholic Faith. And they reduce them to slavery 
(<Et eos in servitutem redigunt>), treating them with afflictions they would scarcely 
use with brute animals."  
 
The common pretext of the allies of "the enemy of the human race," i.e. Satan, for 
enslaving the Indians was that they lacked the Faith. Some of the Europeans used the 
reasoning that converting the Indians should be accomplished by any means necessary, 
thus making the Faith an excuse for war and enslavement. Paul III stated that the 
practice of this form of servitude was "unheard of before now." This clearly indicates 
that the practice of enslaving an entire ethnic group of people - the Indians of South 
America-for no morally justifiable reason was indeed different from anything 
previously encountered.  
 
The second core teaching of <Sublimis Deus> which follows from this is the necessity 
of restoring and maintaining the liberty of the Indians:  
 
"Therefore, We, . . . noting that the Indians themselves indeed are true men and are not 
only capable of the Christian faith, but, as has been made known to us, promptly hasten 
to the faith' and wishing to provide suitable remedies for them, by our Apostolic 
Authority decree and declare by these present letters that the same Indians and all 
other peoples-even though they are outside the faith-who shall hereafter come to the 
knowledge of Christians have not been deprived or should not be deprived of their 
liberty or of their possessions. Rather they are to be able to use and enjoy this liberty 
and this ownership of property freely and licitly, and are not to be reduced to slavery, 
and that whatever happens to the contrary is to be considered null and void. These 
same Indians and other peoples are to be invited to the said faith in Christ by preaching 
and the example of a good life."  
 
Thus, we see that Eugene IV and Paul III did not hesitate to condemn the forced 
servitude of Blacks and Indians, and they did so once such practices became known to 
the Holy See. Their teaching was continued by Gregory XIV in 1591 and by Urban VIII 
in 1639. Indeed Urban, in his document <Commissum Nobis>, appealed to the teaching 
of his predecessors, particularly Paul III. The pontifical teaching was continued by the 
response of the Holy Office on March 20, 1686, under Innocent XI, and by the encyclical 
of Benedict XIV, <Immensa Pastorum>, on December 20, 1741. This work was followed 
by the efforts of Pius VII at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to have the victors over 
Napoleon outlaw slavery.  
 
Gregory XVI: <In Supremo>, 1839 
 
The 1839 Constitution <In Supremo> by Gregory XVI continued the antislavery 
teaching of his predecessors, and was in the same manner not accepted by many of 
those bishops, priests and laity for whom it was written. As we will see, even today 
many authors do not have an accurate understanding of this work. First, however, let 
us consider the content of <In Supremo> itself.  
 
The introduction of <In Supremo> tells us that it was written to turn Christians away 
from the practice of enslaving blacks and other peoples. In it, Gregory first mentioned 
the efforts of the Apostles and other early Christians to alleviate out of the motive of 
Christian charity the suffering of those held in servitude, and that they encouraged the 
practice of emancipating deserving slaves. At the same time, he noted that:  
 
"There were to be found subsequently among the faithful some who, shamefully 
blinded by the desire of sordid gain, in lonely and distant countries did not hesitate to 
reduce to slavery (<in servitutem redigere>) Indians, Blacks and other unfortunate 
peoples, or else, by instituting or expanding the trade in those who had been made 
slaves by others, aided the crime of others. Certainly many Roman Pontiffs of glorious 
memory, Our Predecessors, did not fail, according to the duties of their office, to blame 
severely this way of acting as dangerous for the spiritual welfare of those who did such 
things and a shame to the Christian name."  
 
Gregory then cited the various predecessors and their antislavery teachings, even 
recalling the familiar phrase in <servitutem redigere> contained in the work of Paul III 
and his successors. He mentioned the efforts of Clement I, Pius II, Paul III, Benedict 
XIV, Urban VIII and Pius VII, before concluding this historical summary:  
 
"Indeed these sanctions and this concern of Our Predecessors availed in no small 
measure, with the help of God, to protect the Indians and the other peoples mentioned 
from the cruelties of the invaders and from the greed of Christian traders."  
 
However Gregory was well aware that there was still much work to be done: 
 
"The slave trade, although it has been somewhat diminished, is still carried on by 
numerous Christians. Therefore, desiring to remove such a great shame from all 
Christian peoples ... and walking in the footsteps of Our Predecessors, We, by apostolic 
authority, warn and strongly exhort in the Lord faithful Christians of every condition 
that no one in the future dare to bother unjustly, despoil of their possessions, or reduce 
to slavery (<in servitutem redigere>) Indians, Blacks or other such peoples. Nor are 
they to lend aid and favor to those who give themselves up to these practices, or 
exercise that inhuman traffic by which the Blacks, as if they were not humans but rather 
mere animals, having been brought into slavery in no matter what way, are, without 
any distinction and contrary to the rights of justice and humanity, bought, sold and 
sometimes given over to the hardest labor."  
 
Thus, the historical papal teaching against unjust servitude and the slave trade was 
upheld, and in 1839 was once again presented to the Christian faithful for their 
adherence.  
 
In Gregory's time, as with the previous papal efforts, there was obviously widespread 
non-acceptance on the part of Catholic clergy and laity. Thus, <In Supremo> also 
contains a closing prohibition against clerics as well as laity who were attempting to 
defend slavery or the slave trade:  
 
"We prohibit and strictly forbid any Ecclesiastic or lay person from presuming to 
defend as permissible this trade in Blacks under no matter what pretext or excuse, or 
from publishing or teaching in any manner whatsoever, in public or privately, opinions 
contrary to what We have set forth in these Apostolic Letters."  
 
The primary area of contention with <In Supremo> lies in determining what was 
actually being condemned by Gregory. The text of the Papal Constitution itself clearly 
condemned both the slave trade and slavery, as is apparent from the preceding 
paragraph citations. Both of the above citations prohibit the slave trade. Likewise, in 
the first paragraph we read that slavery itself is also condemned: "... no one in the 
future dare to ... reduce to slavery (<in servitutem redigere>) Indians, Blacks or other 
such peoples." In the second paragraph, the prohibition of "opinions contrary to what 
We have set forth in these Apostolic Letters" indicates that no one may hold that 
slavery itself is somehow not condemned.  
 
The question that should be asked, then, is why have many bishops, historians and 
others interpreted <In Supremo> as condemning the slave trade, but not slavery itself?  
 
Besides the quotation from Laennec Hurbon given at the beginning of this article, we 
may illustrate the problem by citing also the American Church historian James 
Hennesey, S.J. The following is taken from his consideration of the Church's efforts, or 
lack thereof, to obtain the abolition of slavery in the United States:  
 
"Opponents of slavery found slight support in official church teaching. Pope Gregory 
XVI in 1838 (sic) condemned the slave trade, but not slavery itself"  (emphasis added).  
 
John T. Noonan also believes that Gregory condemned only the slave trade, and that 
there were exceptions even to this condemnation. He wrote:  
 
"In 1839 Gregory XVI condemned the slave trade, but not so explicitly that the 
condemnation covered occasional sales by owners of surplus stock."  
 
The American Bishops in the last century, who were charged with applying the 
teaching of <In Supremo> to the slavery institution that existed in our country, as a 
teaching body fell into this same error regarding what was condemned.  
 
Hennesey wrote: "No (American) Catholic bishop spoke for abolition in the pre-war 
years. In 1840 (the Bishop of Charleston) John England explained to (President Martin) 
Van Buren's Secretary of State, John Forsyth, that Pope Gregory XVI had condemned 
the trade in slaves, but that no pope had ever condemned domestic slavery as it had 
existed in the United States" (emphasis added).  
 
Thus, the misreading of <In Supremo> that exists among scholars today actually has its 
roots in the partial rejection of that papal Constitution by the American hierarchy over 
a century and a half earlier.  
 
On the other hand, John Maxwell is quite right in his statement of what Gregory 
actually taught in <In Supremo>: "It is clear that the Pope is condemning unjust 
enslavement and unjust slavetrading" (emphasis added).  
 
Also correct is the papal historian, J.N.D. Kelly, who states, "In the brief <In Supremo> 
... he denounced <slavery> and the slave-trade as unworthy of Christians" (emphasis 
added).  
 
From the documents we have very briefly considered, it is clear that the forced 
enslavement of Indians and blacks was condemned from the time that the "Age of 
Discovery" began, and that as this problem continued and expanded in the territorial 
finds of the New World, the same teaching of the Roman pontiffs was reiterated time 
and again. Likewise, the buying and selling of slaves unjustly held was also 
condemned by 1435.  
 
The development of this teaching over the span of nearly five centuries was occasioned 
by the unique and illicit form of servitude that accompanied the Age of Discovery. The 
just titles to servitude were not rejected by the Church, but rather were tolerated for 
many reasons. This in no way invalidates the clear and consistent teaching against the 
unjust slavery that came to prevail in Africa and the Western Hemisphere, first in 
Central and South America and then in the United States, for approximately four 
centuries.  
 
The substantial teaching against slavery that was provided by the papal Magisterium 
rightly should give Catholics, and indeed all Christians, a great sense of pride.  
 
This teaching was founded in the teachings of Our Lord that all people are loved 
immensely by God the Father, and have received the vocation to redemption and 
eternal happiness in Christ the Son. At the same time, it must be remembered that 
Christians themselves, and notably members of the clergy, frequently and sometimes 
blatantly violated this same teaching. Nevertheless, the Catholic tradition of opposition 
to unjust servitude was a great help in eventually bringing about an end to the 
enslavement of the Indians and blacks in many parts of Latin America, as well as of the 
peoples in the Philippines and other areas.  
 
The prevalent attitude of the American hierarchy, with some notable exceptions in both 
directions, was that many aspects of slavery were evil, but that to change the law 
would be, practically speaking, a greater evil.  
 
Some put forth strong arguments in favor of the institution of slavery, such as Bishop 
John England of Charleston, who believed it to be among the accepted practices of the 
early Church: "The right of the master, the duty of the slave, the lawfulness of 
continuing the relations, and the benevolence of religion in mitigating the sufferings ... 
are the results exhibited by our view of the laws and facts during the first four 
centuries of Christianity."  
 
Answering the charge that Catholics were widely supporting the abolitionist movement 
- which sadly was far from accurate-England noted that Gregory XVI was condemning 
only the slave trade and not slavery itself, especially as it existed in the United States.  
 
To prove his opinion, England had <In Supremo> translated and published in his 
diocesan newspaper, The United States Catholic Miscellany, and even went so far as to 
write a series of 18 extensive letters to John Forsyth, the Secretary of State under 
President Martin Van Buren, to explain how he and most of the other American bishops 
interpreted <In Supremo>.  
 
In one of these letters we learn of the events of the 1840 Council of Baltimore, where the 
bishops read and discussed this apostolic letter:  
 
"Thus, if this document condemned our domestic slavery as an unlawful and 
consequently immoral practice, the bishops could not have accepted it without being 
bound to refuse the sacraments to all who were slave holders unless they manumitted 
their slaves; yet, if you look to the prelates who accepted the document, for the 
acceptation was immediate and unanimous: you will find, 1st the Archbishop of 
Baltimore ...2d, the Bishop of Bardstown ... 3d, the Bishop of Charleston: ... 4th, the 
Bishop of St. Louis ... 5th, the Bishop of Mobile ... 6th, the Bishop of New Orleans ...and 
7th, the Bishop of Nashville ... they all regarded the letter as treating of the 'slave-trade,' 
and not as touching 'domestic slavery.' I believe, sir, we may consider this to be pretty 
conclusive evidence as to the light in which that document is viewed by the Roman 
Catholic Church."  
 
Amazingly, it was decided that papal pronouncements against slavery, particularly 
Gregory XVI's <In Supremo>, did not apply to the institution as it existed in the United 
States, thus yielding on this issue a sort of Americanized Gallicanism.  
 
However, it is clear that Gregory wrote <In Supremo> to condemn precisely what was 
occurring in the United States, namely the enslavement of blacks:  
 
"We, by apostolic authority, warn and strongly exhort in the Lord faithful Christians of 
every condition that no one in the future dare to bother unjustly, despoil of their 
possessions, or reduce to slavery (<in servitutem redigere>) Indians, Blacks or other 
such peoples."  
 
England evidently felt justification for this dissent lay in the episcopal 
(mis)interpretation of <In Supremo>.  
 
These arguments are not dissimilar to the widespread dissent from the Church's 
teachings against slavery by bishops, priests and laity that was common from the 17th 
to 19th centuries. For the Catholics of the United States - as for Catholics everywhere - 
there was the consistent, historical teaching of the Church, as presented through 
Eugene IV. Pius II, Paul III, Gregory XIV, Urban VIII, Innocent XI, Benedict XIV, Pius 
VII and others.  
 
For the early 19th century, in the midst of the volatile decades before the Civil War, 
Gregory XVI issued <In Supremo>, with its clear condemnation of both the slave trade 
and slavery itself.  
 
Since that Constitution mentioned the documents of the previous pontiffs, it is hard to 
understand how the American hierarchy was not aware of the consistency of the 
teaching and its nature.  
 
All of these teachings, nonetheless, went unknown to the Catholic faithful of the U.S., 
perhaps through willful ignorance, or were explained away by many of the American 
bishops and clergy. Thus, we can look to the practice of dissent from the teachings of 
the Papal Magisterium as a key reason why slavery was not directly opposed by the 
Church in the United States.  
 
In the light of <Humanae Vitae> of Pope Paul VI, and <Veritatis Splendor> and 
<Evangelium Vitae> of John Paul II, can we not hope that the shepherds of the Church 
will not fall into the same mistakes of their predecessors?  
 
Fr. Panzer was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., in 1994. He studied 
philosophy at St. Philip's Seminary, Toronto, and theology at St. Joseph's Seminary, in 
Yonkers, N.Y., where he earned a master of arts degree in dogma. He currently is 
assigned to the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska. This is his first article 
for "The Catholic Answer." 
 
This article was taken from the January/February 1996 issue of "The Catholic Answer", 
published by Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 200 Noll Plaza, Huntinton, IN 46750, 1-800-521-
0600. Subscription rate for 1 year is $18.00. 
 
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