Pope prays at Catholic shrine in Angola that was a center of African slave trade

MUXIMA, Angola (AP) 鈥� Pope Leo XIV on Sunday recalled the 鈥渟orrow and great suffering鈥� Angolans endured for centuries, as the American pope prayed at a Catholic shrine located at the site of an

Leo traveled to the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, nestled in the Angolan savanas of baobab trees at the edge of the Kwanza River. It became a major pilgrimage destination after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833.

But the Church of Our Lady of Muxima was originally built by Portuguese colonizers at the end of the 16th century as part of a fortress complex and it became a hub in the slave trade. It was where enslaved Africans were gathered to be baptized by Portuguese priests before being forced to walk to the port of Luanda, over 110 kilometers (70 miles) to the north, to be put on ships to the Americas.

Leo, whose own and slave owners, prayed the Rosary at the sanctuary, a simple whitewashed church with blue trim and a statue of the Madonna inside. Speaking in Portuguese, he recalled it was here 鈥渨here, for centuries, many men and women have prayed in times of joy and also in moments of sorrow and great suffering in the history of this country.鈥�

He didn鈥檛 refer specifically to slavery. After viewing plans to build a basilica at the site, Leo urged the estimated 30,000 people gathered outside to also build 鈥渁 better, more welcoming world, where there are no more wars, no injustices, no poverty, no dishonesty.”

Muxima鈥檚 history is emblematic of the Catholic Church鈥檚 role in the slave trade, the forced baptisms of enslaved people and what some scholars say is the Holy See鈥檚 continued refusal to

鈥淔or Black Catholics, Pope Leo鈥檚 visit to the Muxima shrine is an important moment of healing,鈥� said Anthea Butler, senior fellow at the Koch Center, Oxford University.

She noted that many Black Catholics are Catholic because of slavery and the 鈥淐ode Noir,鈥� which she said required slaves purchased by Catholic owners to be baptized in the church.

鈥淥thers were already Catholic when they were trafficked from Angola to slave-holding colonies,鈥� said Butler, a Black Catholic scholar whose maternal family hails from Louisiana, where the pope鈥檚 ancestors also had their roots.

The role of papal bulls in the slave trade

Angola鈥檚 Portuguese colonizers were emboldened by 15th-century directives from that authorized them to enslave non-Christians.

In 1452, for example, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, which gave the Portuguese king and his successors the right 鈥渢o invade, conquer, fight and subjugate鈥� and take all possessions 鈥� including land 鈥� of 鈥淪aracens, and pagans, and other infidels, and enemies of the name of Christ鈥� anywhere, said the Rev. Christopher J. Kellerman, a Jesuit priest and author of 鈥淎ll Oppression Shall Cease: A History of Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Catholic Church.鈥�

The bull also gave the Portuguese permission 鈥渢o reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.鈥�

That bull and another issued three years later, Romanus Pontifex, formed the basis of the Doctrine of Discovery, the theory that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of land in Africa and the Americas.

The Vatican in 2023 formally repudiated the , but it never formally rescinded, abrogated or rejected the bulls themselves. The Vatican insists that a later bull, Sublimis Deus in 1537, reaffirmed that Indigenous peoples shouldn鈥檛 be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, and were not to be enslaved.

Ultimately, more than 5 million people left from Angola on the trans-Atlantic slave route, more than any other country and nearly half of the roughly 12.5 million African slaves sent across the ocean.

Kellerman recalled that most of these direct victims were sold into slavery by other Africans and were not captured by Europeans.

鈥淭hat being said, at the time of the building of Muxima, the Portuguese were doing both 鈥� buying enslaved people and colonizing/slave raiding. So they were fully using their papal permissions during this time,鈥� Kellerman said in emailed comments to The Associated Press.

He said the first pope to condemn slavery itself was Pope Leo XIII, the current pope鈥檚 namesake, in two encyclicals in 1888 and 1890, after most countries had already abolished slavery. But Kellerman said that pope and others since have continued to perpetuate the 鈥渇alse narrative鈥� that the Holy See always opposed slavery, when the historical record says otherwise.

While Leo’s visit to Muxima was to commemorate its role as a shrine, Kellerman said he hoped Leo had also learned about its role in the slave trade.

鈥淭he popes repeatedly authorized Portugal鈥檚 colonization efforts in Africa and Portuguese participation in the slave trade, but the Vatican has never fully admitted this,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t would be so powerful if at some point Pope Leo were to apologize for the popes鈥� role in the trade.鈥�

During a 1985 visit to Cameroon, St. John Paul II asked forgiveness of Africans for the slave trade on behalf of Christians who participated in it, but not for the popes’ own role in it. In a 1992 visit to Goree Island, Senegal, the largest slave-trading center in West Africa, he denounced the injustice of slavery and called it a 鈥渢ragedy of a civilization that called itself Christian.鈥�

Leo鈥檚 own personal history a point of reflection

According to genealogical research published by Henry Louis Gates Jr., 17 of Leo’s American ancestors were Black, listed in census records as mulatto, Black, Creole or a free person of color. His family tree includes slaveholders and enslaved people, Gates wrote in the New York Times.

Gates, a Harvard University professor who hosts the PBS documentary series 鈥淔inding Your Roots,鈥� presented his research to Leo during a July 5 audience at the Vatican. According to a report of their meeting in The Harvard Gazette, 鈥淭he pope asked about ancestors, both Black and white, who were enslavers.鈥�

Leo has not spoken publicly about his family heritage or the genealogical research, and some Black Catholic scholars were hesitant to impose on him a narrative about his identity that he himself has not yet addressed.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important that we tell our own stories,鈥� said Tia Noelle Pratt, a sociologist of religion and professor at Villanova University, the pope鈥檚 alma mater.

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 heard anything from him about what he thinks about it, and so to impose anything on him, I think would be completely inappropriate,鈥� said Pratt, author of 鈥淔aithful and Devoted: Racism and Identity in the African American Catholic Experience.鈥�

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the retired archbishop of Washington and the first African American cardinal, said he had facilitated the Gates-Leo encounter and was 鈥渄elighted鈥� to have done so.

鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the things that I think for many African Americans and people of color, they identify with great pride that the pope has roots in our own heritage,鈥� Gregory told AP. 鈥淎nd I think he鈥檚 happy about that too, because it鈥檚 another link to the people that he tries to serve and is called to serve.鈥�

___

Gerald Imray contributed from Cape Town, South Africa.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

草莓传媒