How the Church of England Made Billions Off the Transatlantic Slave Trade
The dark side of the Church of England.
The Church of England has existed for over half a millennium. It traces its roots to the Church in the Roman province of Britain in the 3rd century and the Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century.
In 1530, Henry VIII wrote a letter to Pope Clement VII requesting the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon because he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn. This letter was later recovered in the Vatican Secret Archives.
Unfortunately for the monarch, the Pope declined his request, after which Henry VIII renounced papal authority and separated from the Roman Catholic Church, forming the Church of England in 1534.
Today, the Church of England preaches values of love, kindness, trust, inclusion, mutuality, and empathy. As an institution representing the biggest religion in the world, the Church strives to maintain a clean image built upon trust, honesty, and transparency. In its transparency, however, the Church of England may have revealed its dark side, evidence of their massive $12.2 billion fund having early links to the transatlantic slave trade.
