How Pope Nicholas V Used the Church to Start the Disgraceful Slave Trade
Religious dogma created the dehumanization of African indigenous people
In 1452, Pope Nicholas V charged Alfonso of Portugal with the Christian duty to enslave any non-Christian. The Pope’s act would be the first recorded international edict to literally grant a Christian nation the right to promote, enforce, and heavily profit from slave trading. Decades later, Pope Alexander VI beckoned Christian monarchs to conquer native populations in the name of the Catholic Church, upholding his predecessor’s tradition to enslave non-Christians in whatever lands they called home (Muhammad, 2019).
While discussions about slavery often center on European nations’ wrongdoings, historians often obscure the role of the Catholic Church. The truth is like the sound of an alarm after a long night of drinking; it may sound unpleasant, but it is essential to move on from the drunken stupor.
The Catholic Church forced their views onto African and Indigenous people. There was no peaceful conversion and mending of ideological differences. Conversion by missionaries was historically violent, dehumanizing, and destabilizing for African nations. White people justified African enslavement because they did not deem non-Christians worthy of respect.
