| |
| | The Catholic Church and Slavery (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08) |
 | | In 1435, six decades before Columbus sailed, Pope Eugene IV condemned the enslavement of the fl natives of the Canary Islands, and ordered their European masters to manumit the enslaved within 15 days, under pain of excommunication. |
 | | In 1537, Pope Paul III condemned the enslavement of West Indian and South American natives, and explicitly attributed that evil, "unheard of before now," to "the enemy of the human race," Satan. |
 | | Papal condemnations of slavery were repeated by Popes Gregory XIV (1591), Urban VIII (1639), Innocent XI (1686), Benedict XIV (1741), and Piux VII (1815). |
| ic.net /~erasmus/RAZ168.HTM (152 words) |
|