Catholicism and slavery

[David_Paul]

One of my earliest memories is of a torch light parade for Richard Nixon. My small congregationalist CT town wasn’t concerned about JFK taking orders from Rome so much. The fear was that Catholics were prone to communism.

Ironic, isn’t it? JPII was instrumental in bringing down the Soviet Union and those very liberal congregationalists ended up, by the mid-1970s, being on the wrong side in the Cold War.

 

[infoguy]

…

This is a must-read on the issue! The Catholic Church’s stance against slavery goes back to the first millennium!!

The Truth About the Catholic Church and Slavery by Rodney Stark (click on the title for the link!, at christianitytoday.com)

From the article (emphasis mine):

“Some Catholic writers claim that it was not until 1890 that the Roman Catholic Church repudiated slavery … Nonsense!”

“As early as the seventh century, Saint Bathilde (wife of King Clovis II) became famous for her campaign to stop slave-trading and free all slaves.”

“**n 851 Saint Anskar began his efforts to halt the Viking slave trade.”

"Eugene IV (1431 to 1447), he issued a bull, Sicut dudum. The pope did not mince words. Under threat of excommunication he gave everyone involved fifteen days from receipt of his bull “to restore to their earlier liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said Canary Islands . . . These people are to be totally and perpetually free and are to be let go without the exaction or reception of any money.”

“On April 22, 1639, Pope Urban VIII (1623 to 1644), at the request of the Jesuits of Paraguay, issued a bull Commissum nobis reaffirming the ruling by “our predecessor Paul III” that those who reduced others to slavery were subject to excommunication.”

Don’t fall for the rhetoric from anti-Catholics! Here is the truth!

…**

 

[Steve_Andersen]

Andrew_11:

The US was founded as a protestant nation, was a largely protostant natio in the 1800’s

Yes I know that is why I contrasted it with catholic nations that had slavery longer than we did

Andrew_11:

and for the most part, still IS a protestant nation.

Catholicism is the largest single sect and in some areas is predominant…so that is one of those gray areas

Andrew_11:

The Catholic Church always condemed the slavery in America, I believe this is why the KKK is anti-catholic.

I did not know the Church condemned slavery in the US
Do you know the date?

What did She say about Brazil?

 

[Steve_Andersen]

thessalonian:

Race based slavery was a rarity before Aquinas.

Once again I wasn’t talking about race based slavery

And for what it’s worth it probably wasn’t to common in some areas because long range transport wasn’t yet available that allowed folks to reach peoples of different races

The Arabs were slave trading in East Africa in Aquinas’ time and the Egyptians probably had slaves both from up the Nile and Asia Minor millennia before that

However ETHNIC based slavery was probably quite common. The English word “slave” comes from the word Slav…an ethnic group

 

[batteddy]

In Catholic thought, slavery is one of those things like the death penalty.

It isn’t instrinsically evil, and can be permissible under natural and divine law if the requirements of just title, kind treatment, oppurtunity to earn freedom, not splitting up spouses or mothers and children…etc…

But it is open to so many abuses and isn’t necessary that we might as well work to get rid of it. And now that it is gone socially, be happy and work for it not to come back.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

William Wilberforce was a British politician who was mainly credited for getting slavery abolished, he battled for twenty years in parliament and every time he was defeated. Then he came up with the one sentence that gave him a landslide victory in parliament.

When you stand before God, how are you going to justify what you are doing?

Sadly Wilberforce never lived to see the abolition of slavery, it took another thirty years before it came into practice.

Peace

Eric

 

[dcdurel]

infoguy:

…
"Eugene IV (1431 to 1447), he issued a bull, Sicut dudum. The pope did not mince words. Under threat of excommunication he gave everyone involved fifteen days from receipt of his bull “to restore to their earlier liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said Canary Islands . . . These people are to be totally and perpetually free and are to be let go without the exaction or reception of any money.”

“On April 22, 1639, Pope Urban VIII (1623 to 1644), at the request of the Jesuits of Paraguay, issued a bull Commissum nobis reaffirming the ruling by “our predecessor Paul III” that those who reduced others to slavery were subject to excommunication.”
…

It seems like the Popes are the new covenant prophets. They always seem to diagnose sinful problems from the very beginning and they call all people to repent of these sins. Of course the people don’t at first. Thus today, for example, we have racism which springs from trying to justify slavery. And we have abortion and a high divorce rate, which spring from contraception All because people rejected the teachings of Christ’s representative on earth.

The Popes were the first to condemn Hitler for his attitude toward the Jews. The Popes were the first great leaders to condemn communism, and contraception, abortion, euthanasia and the orther aspects of the culture of death. The Popes coined the term the “culture of death” and the “culture of life.”

We must remember that Jesus never said we are to believe a Gospel based on our interpretation of scripture and Tradition. He said we are to believe the Gospel the Church teaches, and the Pope is the primary teacher in the Church. Let us all listen to the Popes as they represent Christ and they have been doing an excellent job througout history.

 

[geezerbob]

Apparently the problem of disobedient bishops in not something unique to our time. Despite what the various popes may have said or written about slavery, the first two bishops of my diocese owned one or more slaves.

 

[David_Paul]

dcdurel…BINGO!

So true. Until the internet I had no idea. Searching on something one day, I ran across the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII–Quod Apostolici Muneris. He saw the Bolshevik revolution coming four decades before it came. In * Quadragesimo Anno*, Pius XI saw where liberalism was headed.

I went to college. Studied Rousseau, Hegel, Kant,Nietzsche , Freud, Maslow, Sartre and others of the same mind. THought I was fairly well educated. Never heard of these papal encyclicals which were saying everything I learned was not only wrong but dangerous.

Catholics must have been around trying to tell me different but I didn’t hear them.

 

[ComradeAndrei]

If people would follow the teachings of the Pope and the Church like they are supposed to, there wouldn’t have even been a slave trade to begin with. Actually, if people did follow the Church, there would be a lot less problems of all kinds in the world.

 

[itsjustdave1988]

snow_white:

I am taking a US History class with a very liberal textbook. In this textbook it says that Catholics were for slavery just like protestants were. Perhaps they were, I don’t know. But does anybody know what the Church had to say about slavery at this time? I would prefer to see something that was written in that period, rather than from this period looking back. I look forward to your answers!

I recommend The Popes and Slavery by Fr. Joel S. Panzer (Alba House, 1996

Also see for quotes from the popes on slavery:
**Was Catholic moral doctrine on slavery erroneous? - **View

 

[itsjustdave1988]

snow_white:

Do you know what Church documents those quotes are in? To quote a first hand source would do well to prove this textbook wrong.

What does your textbook claim? If it claims some members of the Catholic Church were for racial slavery, it is correct. If it claims the doctrine of the Catholic Church was for racial slavery, it is incorrect.

There are many quotes on my blog link I provided above that refutes the latter claim.

 

[didymus]

thessalonian:

I’ve read about that as well. It’s a mixed bag for the Jesuits as the ones in Paraguay actually protected the natives from slavery for as long as they could.

That’s what I’ve read about Latinamerican slavery in general – that the Church at the diocesan/parish level tended to side with the slavowners but religious orders like the SJs were the only ones to advocate for the slaves.

 

[didymus]

Steve Andersen:

I wasn’t talking only about race based slavery

Slavery in one form or another has been with us for millennium
To concentrate solely on race based slavery is myopic at best

What about faith-based slavery?

I read The Refornmation by Diarmaid MacCulloch (a good book, btw, though not a Catholic viewpoint) and he brought up the point that Christians were being captured and sold into slavery in Muslim North Africa and the Middle East for two or three centuries before the first African was nslaved by a European. Arab corsairs raided European coasts, sometimes as far north as the British Isles bringing slaves from Christendom to Islam-dom ?].

One doesn’t justify the other, of course but it does help put things into perspective. If you go back into history most peoples have practised slavery – and been slaves at other times.

As for the Church accepting slavery as the result of capture in a just war that’s a disgrace; it places human being on the same level with other booty taken in combat which is totally unacceptable.

 

[trth_skr]

Andrew_11:

The US was founded as a protestant nation, was a largely protostant natio in the 1800’s and for the most part, still IS a protestant nation.

The Catholic Church always condemed the slavery in America, I believe this is why the KKK is anti-catholic.

Actually, according to some Catholic writers (i.e., Solange Strong Hertz), America was founded as a masonic nation (or at least deistic). Remember George Washington wore a masonic apron during his inaguration. Jefferson was a deist. Franklin played footsie with the French masons to initiate the bloodbath, er, I mean, revolution there. I think there is a lot of substance to this charge.

Interestingly Hertz points out that the much hated (and from black America, I can understand the hatred) confederate flag forms a cross. Neither the US flag nor constitution bother to mention God; though some state constitutions do. See this essay:

cin.org/wyatt.html

www.veritas-catholic.blogspot.com

 

[trth_skr]

David_Paul:

…I went to college. Studied Rousseau, Hegel, Kant,Nietzsche , Freud, Maslow, Sartre and others of the same mind. THought I was fairly well educated. Never heard of these papal encyclicals which were saying everything I learned was not only wrong but dangerous.

Oh, you must have gone to a Catholic University?

www.veritas-catholic.blogspot.com