While criminals get rich, a holy man said sorry. – The pope apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in slavery. Five hundred and seventy-four years after popes authorized the enslavement of Africans, the Vatican finally admits its complicity.
So I’m asking. What does an apology mean when violent offenders and felons get reparations? I’m thinking this might be the first receipt in a long-overdue accounting.
Today, Pope Leo XIV used his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas — “Magnificent Humanity” — to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in legitimizing slavery.
I don’t know if y’all understand how big of a deal that is.
According to the Associated Press, this is the first time a pope has publicly acknowledged and apologized for the role that past popes themselves played in giving European sovereigns authority to subjugate and enslave non-Christians.
That is huge.
But at the same time?
It is still just words.
So today, I’m going to give you a little history — and some math.
In every book I write that involves the Caribbean, one of the most disconcerting things I find is that the Catholic Church was complicit in the moral sin of enslavement.
I am a woman of faith (or, as Ellen, my daughter, says, Non-denominational with Baptist leanings).
My faith grounds me. It’s my identity. It has sustained me in some of my darkest hours.
But when I do research and see enslaved people working in horrible conditions for priests, ministers, missionaries, and all the Catholic orders, I have to sit with that contradiction.
Can you imagine spreading the good news of a Savior while returning to camp to beat and punish someone because the law said you were allowed to own them? Can you imagine preaching salvation while denying someone else’s humanity?
Today I ask: what matters more — the apology, or the 574-year delay?
In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued Dum Diversas, authorizing the Portuguese crown to conquer, subjugate, and enslave non-Christians in Africa. The AP reports that this gave permission to “reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.”
That was 574 years ago.
Five hundred and seventy-four years is a long time to wait for someone to say, “We were wrong.” So yes, give some credit to Pope Leo.
He’s American. He is from Chicago. His family tree includes both enslaved people and enslavers. Maybe all of that matters. Maybe that’s why he could step up and say wrong is wrong, even if his own hands were never on the master’s whip.
That means something.
But it does not mean everything.
Because apologies without repair are just public relations.
So let’s talk numbers.
In 1838, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus — the Jesuits — sold 272 enslaved people to two Louisiana planters for $115,000.
That gives us a benchmark:
$115,000 divided by 272 people equals $422.79 per enslaved person in 1838 dollars.
Historian Andrew Dial estimates that they held more than 20,000 people in bondage by the mid-eighteenth century.
So let’s calculate from there.
If 20,000 enslaved people were valued at the Georgetown benchmark:
20,000 × $422.79 = $8.46 million in 1838 dollars. $296–338 million
But Jesuits are just one order of the Catholic Church, if you add the Franciscans, Dominicans, Capuchins, missions, universities, and the plantation systems throughout Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, Louisiana, and the French Caribbean, you can increase that number to 100,000 – 400,000 enslaved people.
The value rises from $296 Million to as high as $5 billion in today’s dollars.
That is the math.
Now let’s widen the lens.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database estimates about 12.5 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic slave trade.
Using the same Georgetown benchmark:
12.5 million × $422.79 = $5.285 billion in 1838 dollars.
In today’s dollars, that is roughly: $185 billion to $211 billion.
And that is still only the body-price.
· Not labor.
· Not land.
· Not sugar.
· Not cotton.
· Not tobacco.
· Not banks.
· Not insurance.
· Not universities.
· Not inherited wealth.
· Not compound interest.
· Just the sale value of humans.
Well, Vanessa, I’m not Catholic. I figured you’d remember that. Let’s bring this home to the United States.
Historians generally estimate that about 388,000 Africans were directly imported into what became the United States. By 1860, the enslaved population had grown to nearly 4 million people through forced reproduction and hereditary slavery.
Using the Georgetown benchmark:
4,000,000 × $422.79 = $1.691 billion in 1838 dollars.
Converted today: $59 billion to $68 billion.
Now, if you divided that across roughly 49 million Black Americans today, that would be about: $1,200 to $1,388 per person.
And somebody will say, “See, that’s not that much. Get over it.”
They would be right about the number, because it is too small. It only values enslaved people as property. It does not include what was stolen from them and their descendants.
It does not include:
* 250 years of unpaid labor,
* lost wages,
* stolen inheritance,
* land theft,
* banking and insurance profits,
* cotton, tobacco, and sugar profits,
* Jim Crow,
* poll taxes,
* redlining,
* burned Black business districts,
* medical experimentation,
* biased healthcare,
* or the generational trauma that shows up in Black bodies today.
* Excuse me while I take my blood pressure medicine.
* Le Sigh.
All of this moves the numbers from billions to trillions. Wage-based models alone calculate unpaid labor plus interest at $19.1 trillion.
So now we’re talking about $466K per descendant of US Chattel slavery.
Congress is not about to cut anybody but a blood relative of the president or a convicted J6 criminal a check for $466,000. It would be nice, but I’d not bet on fairness or wholeness.
And speaking of blood pressure, the National Institutes of Health shows Black Americans are still affected by structural racism and intergenerational trauma, which leads to Hypertension. Heart disease and higher rates of maternal and infant mortality.
That sounds like payable damages to me. Any trial lawyers listening?
All of this is to say that if the federal government can create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people who claim they were harmed by government power, then maybe we should ask: what do we call slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, poll taxes, eminent domain seizures, and violence directed at Black families— but being harmed by government power?
The Justice Department will issue formal apologies and monetary relief to people who suffered improper government action from their criminal activities, but not to people harmed by the government’s racial biased policies .
Remember slavery was encoded in laws, directed by government actions in Black Codes, Jim Crow, and redlining.
Remember poll taxes were legal
And today, eminent domain is still being used to strip Black families of land.
If America has suddenly discovered that formal apologies and monetary relief are appropriate to repair harm done by the government, I have a list.
It’s not as long as 574 years, but it begins with an apology.
I thank Pope Leo. This is a start. It’s not the end. Truth cracks open the door.
Because good people ask forgiveness for their sins.
And we need to figure out how to stop bad ones from getting paid for theirs.
And if you’re feeling generous, you can always subscribe. Very generous, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Extremely beneficial, patron level — Checks can be made payable to Vanessa Riley, in care of Gallium Optronics, LLC.
This week’s reading list includes:
The 272 – Rachel L. SwarnsA modern account of the Jesuit sale of 272 enslaved people that helped stabilize Georgetown University financially.
The Half Has Never Been Told– Edward E. BaptistIllustrates the economic arguments showing slavery as foundational to American capitalism.
The Color of Law – Richard RothsteinShows how redlining and segregation were legally engineered by government policy.
If you’re mad enough to raise a sword and consider purchasing Fire Sword and Sea, my latest release.
Or if you are in need of laughs and inclusivity and to see the guys win, preorder or review at NetGalley, or request at your local library, A Deal at Dawn. Step into a cliffhanger, where the Duke of Torrance is dying to finally be a father to his daughter, but he must deal with the girl’s mother, the woman who humbled him and broke his heart.
Get these books from Resist Booksellers . They still have a few signed copies of Fire Sword and Sea.
You can also try one of my partners in the fight, bookstores large and small, who are in the trenches with me.
You can find my notes on Substack or on my website, VanessaRiley.com, under the podcast link in the About tab.
Hey. Let’s keep rising and creating together. I need you. Like, share, subscribe, and stay connected to Write of Passage.
Thank you for being here.
I want you to come again. This is Vanessa Riley.
Sources:
1. Associated Press. “The Vatican’s ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ Is Linked to Colonialism. What Is It?” Associated Press, March 30, 2023. Associated Press article
2. Brookings Institution. “Black Reparations and the Racial Wealth Gap.” Brookings, June 8, 2020. Brookings article
3. Garrigus, John D. “Catholicism and Slavery in Saint-Domingue.” Journal Article via JSTOR. Accessed May 25, 2026. JSTOR source
4. Georgetown University. “Georgetown Slavery Archive.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Georgetown Slavery Archive
5. Georgetown University. “Reconciliation Fund.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Georgetown Reconciliation Fund
6. Measuring Worth. “The Economic Value of Slavery in the United States.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Measuring Worth slavery valuation
7. Murphy, Thomas. Jesuit Slaveholding in Maryland, 1717–1838. Georgetown University Repository. Accessed May 25, 2026. Jesuit Slaveholding in Maryland
8. PBS. “How Many Slaves Landed in the U.S.?” African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. Accessed May 25, 2026. PBS slavery statistics
9. Pew Research Center. “Facts About the U.S. Black Population.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Pew Research Center demographics
10. Reuters. “Pope Leo Apologises for Church’s Historic Role in Slavery.” Reuters, May 25, 2026. Reuters article on Pope Leo XIV apology
11. Rothman, Adam. “Review Essay on Jesuits and Slavery.” Journal of Jesuit Studies. Accessed May 25, 2026. Journal of Jesuit Studies PDF
12. Slave Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. “Estimates.” Accessed May 25, 2026. Slave Voyages Database
13. Swarns, Rachel L. The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church. New York: Random House, 2023.
14. The Guardian. “Jesuits Pledge $100 Million for Descendants of Enslaved People.” The Guardian, March 16, 2021. Guardian reparations article
15. The Guardian. “Georgetown and the 272 Enslaved People Sold by Jesuits.” The Guardian, August 31, 2023. Guardian article on The 272
16. Wikipedia contributors. “1838 Jesuit Slave Sale.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 25, 2026. 1838 Jesuit Slave Sale article
17. Wikipedia contributors. “Antoine Lavalette.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 25, 2026. Antoine Lavalette article
18. Wikipedia contributors. “Catholic Church and Slavery.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 25, 2026. Catholic Church and slavery article
19. Wikipedia contributors. “Jesuits.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed May 25, 2026. Jesuits article
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