Rodney Stark from “The Victory of Reason” on the church’s opposition to slavery

The following is from Rodney Stark’s book “The Victory of Reason – How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success.”

The following is an elucidation of the church’s opposition to slavery, from pp. 200-202

Recall that as early as the sixth century the church began to oppose slavery, and that by the end of the tenth century it had managed to eliminate slavery from most of Europe. Then, during the I430s, the Spanish colonized the Canary Islands and began to enslave the native population.

When word of this reached Pope Eugene IV, he immediately issued a bull, Sicut dudum. The pope didn't beat around the bush: under threat of excommunication he gave everyone involved fifteen days from the receipt of his bull "to restore to their earlier liberty all and each persons of either sex who once were residents of said Canary Islands .... These people are to be totally and perpetually free and are to be let go without exaction or reception of any money."

But the pope's bull was ignored, as were similar bulls by his next two successors.
With the successful Spanish and Portuguese invasions of the New World, enslavement of native peoples continued, soon to be augmented by increasingly large shipments of slaves from Africa.

Some of those involved in slavery proposed that it was not a violation of church teachings since these were not "rational creatures" but a species of "animals."

The church would have none of it. In 1537, Pope Paul III issued three decrees against New World slavery (these were ignored by historians until recently). In his initial bull the pope declared that "the Indians themselves indeed are true men" and therefore "by our Apostolic Authority [we] decree and declare ... chat the same Indians and all other peoples – even though they are outside the faith- ... should not be deprived of their liberty or their possessions...and are not to be reduced to slavery, and whatever happens .to the contrary is to be considered null and void."

In [he second bull the pope invoked the penalty of excommunication on anyone, regardless of their "dignity, state, condition, or grade," who engaged in slavery.

Church opposition did end the blatant enslavement of the Indians, although many exploitative practices continued. But papal bulls had no impact on the flow of slaves from Africa. True enough, for a long time Spanish colonies lagged far behind the British and the French in using African slaves – the island colonies of the two powers being rapidly transformed into slave-based plantation economies. But this was due to a difference in economic approaches, not to religious considerations, even though, as the volume of slavery in the New World continued to rise, the church continued to reassert its opposition.

In 1639, at the request of the Jesuits of Paraguay, Pope Urban VIII issued a bull reaffirming Paul III's imposition of excommunication on all who traded or kept slaves.

As with Paul Ill's bulls, so too Urban's opposition to slavery had no effect and went almost unnoticed. Rome's position was not supported by many of the local bishops, all of whom had been appointed by the King of Spain. Recall too that it was illegal to publish these antislavery bulls, or any papal statements, in Spain or in the New World colonies without royal consent, which was not given.

When Urban VIII's bull was illegally read in public by Jesuits in Rio de Janeiro, the result was that a mob sacked their local college and injured a number of priests. In Santos another mob trampled the Jesuit vicar general when he tried to publish the bull.

Having continued to oppose slavery, and for building remarkably advanced and successful Indian communities, in 1767 the Jesuits were brutally expelled from the New World. Nevertheless, the bishops in Spanish America were not entirely without influence. By appealing to the Spanish court that enslavement of the Indians interfered with efforts to convert them to Christianity, the bishops obtained "New Laws" in 1542 that prohibited enslavement of the Indians, and as mentioned, these laws were generally observed. Somewhat later, when substantial numbers of African slaves were introduced into Spanish areas in the New World, the bishops managed to have the Spanish court accept the C6digo Negro Espanol (Spanish Black Code), which greatly mitigated the actual conditions of slavery. Both of these actions provoked "intense conflicts between civil and religious authorities."

Keep in mind that while the king chose the bishops, he could do so only from the pool of eligible nominees and that these were men trained and selected by the Vatican, And since their appointments were for life, bishops often simply outlasted their noble opponents.

But they never were nearly as powerful as were the secular rulers. Unfortunately too, in response to the Reformation, at this same time the Catholic Church was undergoing substantial changes that made it far less favorable to progress and commerce.

For information on the Bible and slavery, see:

Does the Bible and its God Condone Slavery?

Does God Command You to Beat Your Slaves?