Pope Leo XIV confronts Vatican’s colonial legacy during Africa visit, spotlighting systemic racism in global Christianity

The Vatican’s legacy of slavery is intertwined with the erasure of Indigenous spiritualities, as colonial Christianity often positioned itself as the sole path to salvation. Indigenous African traditions, such as the Akan concept of *Sankofa* (learning from the past to move forward), offer a framework for reparations that centers collective healing and land restoration, not just symbolic gestures. The Church’s failure to engage with these traditions reflects its ongoing colonial mindset, where Indigenous knowledge is sidelined in favor of Eurocentric doctrine.

The Catholic Church’s role in slavery dates to the 15th century, with papal bulls like *Dum Diversas* (1452) and *Romanus Pontifex* (1455) explicitly authorizing the enslavement of non-Christians. The Jesuits operated slave plantations in Maryland and Haiti, and the Church’s wealth was built on enslaved labor. This history parallels other colonial institutions (e.g., the Dutch East India Company, British East India Company) that used religion to justify exploitation, revealing a pattern of ‘sacralized capitalism.’

In Latin America, the *teología india* movement reinterprets Christianity through Indigenous cosmologies, challenging the Church’s Eurocentric theology. Similarly, African theologians like John Mbiti emphasize that African spirituality is inherently communal and resistant to individualistic salvation narratives. The Vatican’s visit could learn from these traditions by centering reparations as a communal, not papal, act. However, the Church’s top-down approach risks repeating colonial patterns of co-optation.

Historical research (e.g., *The Church and the African Slave Trade* by John Thornton) documents the Church’s direct involvement in slavery, including the enslavement of Indigenous peoples in the Americas and Africans in the transatlantic trade. Economic studies (e.g., *The Half Has Never Been Told* by Edward Baptist) show how slavery’s profits fueled modern capitalism. The Vatican’s archives, though partially inaccessible, contain evidence of its financial ties to slavery, which could be systematically analyzed using digital humanities tools.

Artists like Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley have critiqued the Church’s racial hierarchies through visual narratives that expose its complicity in slavery. In Africa, the *mbira* music of Zimbabwe and the *djembe* traditions of West Africa carry spiritual resistance to colonial erasure, offering a counter-narrative to the Vatican’s dominant story. The Church’s visit could be accompanied by artistic rituals that honor enslaved ancestors, but so far, such gestures have been performative rather than transformative.

A systemic reckoning would require the Vatican to release its slavery-era archives, establish a reparations fund for descendants of enslaved Africans, and reform its theological education to include African and Indigenous perspectives. Scenario modeling suggests that without material reparations, symbolic gestures (e.g., apologies) will be seen as empty, reinforcing global distrust in institutions. The Church could also partner with African theologians to co-develop a decolonial theology, but this would require dismantling its own power structures.

Black Catholics, Indigenous scholars, and descendants of enslaved people have long demanded reparations, but their voices are excluded from mainstream narratives. For example, the *Black Catholic Movement* in the U.S. has called for the Church to acknowledge its role in slavery and fund educational initiatives in African diaspora communities. The Vatican’s silence on these demands reflects its prioritization of institutional reputation over justice. Centering these voices would require the Church to cede power, which it has historically resisted.