Pope Leo XIV makes a public, unprecedented apology for the Holy See’s historical role in legitimizing slavery, according to multiple outlets. In the apology, he says the Church took too long to fully recognize that slavery is incompatible with Christian teaching. Sources report that he refers to the Vatican’s record as “a wound in Christian memory,” and he asks for pardon on behalf of the Church. Several reports also note that earlier popes have addressed Christians’ involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but that no pope had previously publicly acknowledged—let alone apologized for—the role of the Holy See and past papal actions in giving European sovereigns explicit authority to subjugate and enslave people described in historical texts as “infidels.” Accounts describe the apology as occurring in the context of Pope Leo’s first encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), in which slavery is explicitly characterized as that “wound.” Overall, the reports agree that the apology addresses both legitimization and the Church’s failure to condemn slavery for centuries.