Slavery Archives

By pledging $100 million for slave descendants, Jesuits are ‘owning’ their history

May 4, 2021

For two descendants of slaves sold by the Jesuits in the 19th century, George Floyd’s death at the hands of disgraced Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin last May served as a reminder of what their ancestors endured, and how far the country still has to go.

By John Lavenburg

Jesuits in US pledge $100M for racial reconciliation

Mar 17, 2021

The U.S.-based branch of the Jesuits has unveiled ambitious plans for a “truth and reconciliation” initiative in partnership with descendants of people once enslaved by the Catholic order.

By David Crary

Brazil’s Catholic Church yet to come to terms with slaveholding past

Dec 29, 2020

In a year the Black Lives Matter movement spread across the globe, Brazilians are beginning to focus on the role the Catholic Church played in the institution of slavery in the country.

By Eduardo Campos Lima

Iowa Catholic college to remove statue of its bishop founder over slavery

Sep 8, 2020

A private eastern Iowa college has announced it will remove a statue of the school’s founder after officials there learned new details about his slave-owning past.

By Associated Press

Papal aide sees whole drama of trafficking in one Sierra Leone woman

Jun 19, 2020

Augusta Ngombu had been orphaned as a child. Exploited and abused by a family member, she fled her home and ended up as a prostitute in the streets in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, where over 50 percent of the population lives in extreme poverty.

By Inés San Martín

Faith made Harriet Tubman fearless as she rescued slaves

Dec 3, 2019

Millions of people voted in an online poll in 2015 to have the face of Harriet Tubman on the US$20 bill. But many might not have known the story of her life as chronicled in a recent film, “Harriet.”

By Robert Gudmestad

Pope tells Thailand’s Catholics to be ‘missionary disciples’ not ‘mercenaries of faith’

Nov 21, 2019

Speaking to some 60,000 members of Thailand’s tiny Catholic community, Pope Francis on Thursday called them to be missionary disciples, explaining that being a “mercenary of the faith” does not compel others to convert.

By Inés San Martín

Church’s historic ties to slavery examined at Independence Day conference

Jul 11, 2019

Independence Day took on a special poignancy at a conference for African American Catholics held a few miles from the nation’s capital, as participants at a July 4 workshop reflected on the Catholic Church’s connection to what has been called the country’s original sin — slavery.

By Mark Zimmermann, CNS