In his time as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, late Pope Francis, who became known as a vocal advocate for the oppressed, the oppressed, and the marginalized, had a strong interest in Africa.
He frequently discussed the continent’s problems and advantages while demonstrating a strong commitment to it throughout his papacy. In speeches and statements, he consistently called for peace and reconciliation between African countries and stressed the importance of respecting and upholding the continent’s rich cultural diversity and local traditions. He also consistently called for the exploitation of African resources and people. During his 12-year tenure, he visited 10 African nations, each of which received a lot of media coverage and recognition as an opportunity to highlight the significance of Africa for both his Church and the world.
After all, Africa is the region where the Catholic population is growing the quickest, so Francis had plenty of reason to concentrate his attention there. Just 9.6 million Christians lived on the continent in 1900, or roughly 9.6 million. Around 750 million Christians live in Africa as of 2025. Around 281 million people worldwide, or 20% of the total, are Catholics.
Therefore, Francis’ successor must continue to maintain a firm focus on Africa as he is elected in a conclave starting on May 7. African Catholics will be anticipating more than just regular visits and complimentary speeches from their new leader as Africa quickly gains a major population center for the Church.
The Catholic Church and Africa have a complex relationship, despite its expanding appeal on the continent. The Church profited handsomely from Africans’ suffering for many years and has consequences that date back to the present.
The new Pope must address the role the Catholic Church played in the transatlantic slave trade and colonization of the continent if he is to continue building on Pope Francis’ legacy and show his commitment to Africa and Africans.
This exact point was made at a meeting with Bishop Paul Tighe, the Pontifical Council of Culture’s secretary, three years ago, in July 2022, by the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing (GCRH), a group of international reparations activists, scholars, artists, and activists from all over the world.
The coalition aimed to elicit a discussion with the Church about the significant, long-lasting harm that its extensive involvement in the transatlantic slave trade had caused to Africa and its entire diaspora at this meeting in Vatican City.
GCRH representatives gave the Church a detailed 15-page presentation that enumerated its past abuses in Africa to help a concerted healing process.
The Catholic Church’s crimes on Earth are no longer excused.
Portuguese monarchs sought the approval and assistance of the Roman Catholic Church’s Popes in order to advance their territorial ambitions in Africa from the beginning of the 15th century. In response to these royal requests, several pontiffs, who allegedly posed as the earthly representatives of Jesus Christ, issued papal bulls, or official public decrees, which approved of military operations in Africa and supported the ongoing enslavement of Africans. In the ostensible name of Jesus Christ, these bulls provided the moral and legal justification for African trafficking and enslavement, as well as for European imperialism and colonization in Africa.
The Church changed its focus to supporting colonization of the continent after the slave trade ended. For instance, it was crucial to the colonization of Zimbabwe, serving both as a beneficiary and a catalyst for its bloody successes.
Missionary initiatives aimed to bolster European dominance by converting “primitive” indigenous populations, which were frequently linked to colonial expansion. Two chaplains joined a “Pioneer Column force” that engaged in military conflict against African communities in 1890, leading to the colonization of Mashonaland in modern Zimbabwe. One of them was affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church and the other with the Anglican Church.
The Catholic Church immediately established mission stations on land that local communities had taken as collateral after Mashonaland’s conquest. Catholic missionaries eventually assumed a dual and frequently conflicting role. They established mission hospitals and schools in areas without such services, including St. Francis Xavier’s Kutama College and Gokomere High School, as well as moral and cultural justifications for violent European expansion. However, their support and participation in their colonial takeover did not completely negate the harm they had caused to the land and its people.
The enthusiastic support the Church offered western imperialists helped to erect a racial hierarchy that viewed Africans as inferior and legitimized white supremacy. The legacy of this once Church-approved racial hierarchy continues to shape social structures, governance, law enforcement, and economic opportunities for Africans living in diasporas across South America, Europe, and North America.
One of the enduring effects of these racial hierarchies that the Church actively helped build was the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 in the US, which led to the rise of the global Black Lives Matter movement. Outside the US, things aren’t much better. People of African descent in Brazil also “continue to endure multifaceted, deeply interconnected, and pervasive forms of systemic racism, as a result of colonialism and enslavement legacies,” according to Ashwini KP, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, in August 2024.
The Church must urgently take significant steps to compensate for its past iniquity and assist Africans in dealing with the continent’s and diaspora’s deadly consequences.
The Jesuits, a significant Catholic order, made a groundbreaking commitment to raise $100 million for the resurrected descendants of 272 ex-owners and to support racial reconciliation initiatives in March 2021. The pledge represents the most significant effort made by the Roman Catholic Church to confront its historical role in the enslavement of Africans, despite being significantly less than the $1 billion initially requested by the descendants.
The Vatican has always argued that any such actions should be managed decentralised, despite not explicitly opposing reparations for historical wrongs. However, the lack of significant progress on this front suggests a fresh approach is impermissibly needed.
The Vatican has approved a program called the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) and GCRH that includes a full apology, formal reparations, and genuine healing processes. This echoes the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the African Union’s (AU) annual demands for reparations.
The close relationship that Pope Francis had with Africans will be enhanced by the new Pope. He will go down in history as the Pope who finally made the Church a genuine friend of Africa and made up for its mistakes by starting a comprehensive global reparations initiative.
In the twenty-first century, African Catholics have become a significant source of the Church’s authority and influence. They want nothing less from the incoming leader.
Source: Aljazeera
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