The Catholic Church appears cautious in rectifying its foundational role in the enslavement, colonization and continued exploitation of Africa. The 1452 Papal Bull “Dum Diversas” and the 1455 “Romanus Pontifex” from Pope Nicholas V formally authorized the transatlantic slave trade, colonial invasion and land-expropriation from Africans by the European powers, thereby laying the foundation for centuries of colonial exploitation. These church documents are not just relics of a bygone era; they are the foundation upon which the colonial system for Africa’s continued exploitation, poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment stands, especially the 1885 land-expropriation law and its branches.
Though Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis have apologized for the Church’s historical wrongs in some parts of the world, including Canada and the Americas, not much has been done to address its resultant system of exploitation and oppression in Africa. In 2023, Pope Francis gave a beautiful document “Hands Off Africa”, to condemn the continued economic exploitation of Africa, especially by the Western world, using their long-established colonial systems. Yet, no amount of warning can stop the exploiters without supporting the exploited people to resist the exploitation with new or reformatory ideologies, systems and programs of socioeconomic growth to replace the colonial ideology, system and programs of exploitation.
In remedial efforts, the Church has brought many schools, hospitals, parishes and charity groups. Yet, these efforts can never be enough to liberate African families and communities from the exploitation of the totalitarian and colonial system, that is mainly held with the land-expropriation laws.
So, although the Church gave these enslaving documents to Christianize the world against the global Islamization efforts of the Ottoman Empire at that time, it still needs to take concrete actions in this new era to correct the colonial system of oppression, exploitation and slavery that came through the authorization and justification from those Papal Bulls to the European colonialists. The current Pope Leo XIV can choose to:
- Renounce “Dum Diversas” and “Romanus Pontifex”: acknowledge the systemic damage and malformation in Africa from these church documents.
- Support the abolition of the colonial land-expropriation laws: support land reforms to return and recognize the various communities’ and individuals’ lands as private property, especially through their Restart National Conferences.
- Support rebuilding programs: support programs like the cultural destiny contest to unite and inspire Africans to compete in using their cultural, human and natural resources for socioeconomic growth based on the new ideology of intercultural liberty.
The Church cannot stay silent or evasive now. It is time for the Vatican to go beyond pious rhetoric in order to support the reversal of the effects of the colonial system and laws of exploitation.
Together, we can create a more just and equitable world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dum_Diversas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanus_Pontifex
