Accra, Ghana – May 27, 2026 – Ghana’s government has officially welcomed an unprecedented apology from Pope Leo XIV regarding the Catholic Church’s historical complicity in slavery, calling the pontiff’s statement a courageous act essential for global justice and reconciliation.
The apology, issued Monday in the Pope’s first major teaching document, “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”), represents the clearest acknowledgment to date of the Church’s role in legitimizing enslavement and its centuries-long delay in condemning the practice.
In the encyclical, Pope Leo XIV wrote that it was “impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many.” He confessed that Church authorities had at times responded to rulers’ demands by “regulating and legitimising forms of subjugation, including the enslavement of non-Christians,” and admitted that ecclesiastical institutions themselves held slaves during the Middle Ages, calling this “a wound in Christian memory.”
Ghana’s government described the Pope’s recognition of this painful past as an “act of moral courage” that reinforces the global understanding that “confronting historical injustices demands truth-telling and moral responsibility.” The West African nation, once a major hub for the transatlantic slave trade, has long led calls for compensation and formal apologies from Western nations.
Between the 16th and 19th centuries, an estimated 12 to 15 million Africans were shipped to the Americas, with roughly two million dying during the brutal middle passage. Ghana still preserves coastal forts where captives were held in inhuman conditions before being transported.
The country recently secured a United Nations resolution—backed by the African Union and Ghana’s President John Mahama—recognizing the enslavement of Africans as “the gravest crime against humanity.” The resolution aims to pave the way for reparations and address persistent consequences such as inequality and racial discrimination.
Ghana is scheduled to host a conference in June to discuss next steps following the UN resolution. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch acknowledged the Pope’s apology as important but stressed that “apologies alone are not enough,” calling on religious institutions, states, and corporations that benefited from slavery to engage seriously in reparative justice efforts.
Pope Leo XIV’s apology follows his first visit to Africa as pontiff in April, during which he criticized foreign exploitation of the continent’s wealth. The encyclical also addressed the dangers of artificial intelligence, marking a dual focus on historical accountability and emerging ethical challenges.
