On Monday, Pope Leo XIV did something that had never been done.

Leo issued a historic apology for the Vatican’s role in legitimizing slavery, acknowledging that the Holy See failed to denounce the practice for centuries. The apology, published Monday in his inaugural encyclical, marks the first time a pope has explicitly apologized for the Vatican’s authority to help justify the enslavement of “infidels” by European monarchs.

“It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” Leo wrote. “For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

Leo, the first pope born in the United States, framed the statement as part of a broader reckoning with the church’s past. Leo’s family history includes both enslaved people and slave owners, adding another layer of symbolism to the moment. The message arrives amid ongoing debates over how religious institutions confront their roles in slavery, colonialism, and racial violence.

For many Catholics and historians, the apology is likely to resonate as both overdue and significant because it directly addresses the Vatican’s institutional backing of slavery rather than only the participation of individual Christians. Previous popes had expressed remorse for Christians’ involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but Leo’s statement goes further by specifically naming the Holy See’s own authority in the system.

“The Catholic Church has never been an innocent bystander in the history of white supremacy,” said Shannen Dee Williams, historian at the University of Dayton, per the AP. “Black Catholics have waited a long time to hear the Vatican speak honestly about the church’s leading roles in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and chattel slavery--and thus by extension the enduring systems of anti-Black racism in the world today.”

The encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”), includes the apology within a broader call to recognize the dignity of every person.

He also wrote that every human being was “created in the image of God,” even if the church has taken 18 centuries to recognize its fallacies. “This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached,” he wrote.

It also places pressure on the church to pair words with concrete action, especially as faith communities continue to confront legacies of racism and exclusion.