Topic:  What does the Catholic Church say about slavery?

Source of this posting: Moderator response

Date originally posted: April 10, 2003

Moderator who originally posted this source: Cathy Rusin

Question:   I need information on the Churches teaching concerning slavery. Is the church for, against, or does not make a statement concerning slavery. Anything stated by a pope, priest or saint, bible verses, catechism sections, and anything you believe would be greatly appreciated. Also could you please pray for my Aunts marriage. God Bless Sarah Miller

Answer: 

Thanks for your question, Sarah. While slavery was a reality in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures (aka Old and New Testaments), it was generally a different institution than that of 19th Century USA. The Hebrews, who recalled being released from their bondage in Egypt, still had slaves but tended to ‘humanize’ the institution, valuing the person as well as their contribution to their master. There were also several provisions for the slave to gain freedom, including emancipation in the Jubilee Year (see Leviticus 25: 39-55) Early Christians took the presence of slaves for granted, yet recognized that in Christ, slave and free are one (1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11) and masters are to treat slaves fairly (Col 4:1). (reference: Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Supplemental Volume)

Paragraph 2414 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church relates our faith’s opposition to slavery to the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal”. Here’s what it says:

The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason – selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian – lead to the enslavement of human beings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to their productive value or to a source of profit. St Paul directed a Christian master to treat his Christian slave “no longer as slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, … both in the flesh and in the Lord.” (Philemon 16)

(Your question was about present Church teaching on slavery. If you are in search of more historical information on Christian attitudes toward slavery over the centuries, please write back. I do not have access to resource material on that this weekend, but can do some further looking if that was your intent. Then again, you may find more information more quickly by visiting your local library!)

Please be assured of my prayers for you, and for your Aunt’s marriage.
Peace,
Cathy Rusin