Slavery and Church Teaching

I would like to respond to Eduardo’s challenging observations about the Church and slavery in the nineteenth century. If Eduardo was making the point that the Church did not speak out against slavery in the nineteenth, I must respectfully disagree. If his point was that some members of the Church did not abide by its teaching, then I would agree that there were Catholics involved in varying degrees of supporting slavery or its trade.

It is important to be mindful of what the Church teaches and has taught. It is also important to know that we, as Catholics (clerical and laity), are sinners who do not always follow the teachings of the Church. This is true when the practice of slavery is examined. With the European exploration and colonization of the globe in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, slavery became a growing business and, therefore, a subject of the Church’s teachings. We might recall the writings of de las Casas, Suàrez, de Vitoria, Molina, Claver, and others during this period. While Councils and Popes condemned various aspects of slavery and the slave trade in the first millennium of the Church, we need to be mindful of the teachings of Eugene IV (1435), Paul III (1537), Pius V (1568), Urban VIII (1639), Benedict XIV (1741), Pius VII (1815), Gregory XVI (1839), Leo XIII (1888), and the Second Vatican Council (1965) condemning, by different methods, slavery and the slave trade. The faithful—clerical and lay—have not always abided by these teachings, as I have mentioned. My own order was suppressed at the insistence of their Catholic majesties of France, Portugal, and Spain in 1773 for several reasons including its work against slave practices in colonial regions of the world. Perhaps they, their Catholic majesties who pressured the Pope to suppress the order, had in mind the words of Henry II: “who will rid me of this meddlesome priest!” It is also true that members of the Jesuit order in the Maryland Province participated in America’s “peculiar institution.” Perhaps those who participated in slavery had in mind, “when in America, do as the Americans.”

My point is this: the Church has held and taught for a long time that slavery and its trade are wrong. Nevertheless, some who considered themselves Catholics did not abide by this teaching. It appears the same is true when other issues of contemporary interests are studied. In these matters where the Church’s teachings are clear, some members do not always observe and practice what the Church teaches.   RJA sj