Late Pope Francis, who came to be known as a strong voice for the poor, oppressed and the marginalised during his tenure as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had a keen interest in Africa.
Throughout his papacy, he demonstrated a deep commitment to the continent, talking about its problems and strengths often. He consistently denounced the exploitation of African resources and people in speeches and statements, called for peace and reconciliation between African nations, and highlighted the importance of respecting and preserving the continent’s rich cultural diversity and local traditions. He visited 10 African countries during his 12 year tenure, and treated each one of these widely publicised and celebrated visits as an opportunity to highlight Africa’s significance to his Church and the world.
Francis had ample reason to keep his attention firmly on Africa; it is, after all, the region where the Catholic population is growing the fastest. In 1900, there were just 9.6 million or so Christians across the continent. As of 2025, Africa is home to approximately 750 million Christians. Of this total, some 281 million are Catholics, accounting for 20 percent of the global Catholic population.
As such, the successor of Francis, who will be elected in a conclave that will begin on May 7, must continue to maintain a firm focus on Africa. But as Africa fast becomes a main population centre for the Church, African Catholics will be expecting more than frequent visits and complementary speeches from their new leader.
Despite its growing popularity on the continent, the relationship between the Catholic Church and Africa has not always been straight forward. For many years, the Church inflicted unimaginable horrors on Africans, and benefited handsomely from their suffering, with consequences that stretch well into the present.
If he is to continue building on Pope Francis’ legacy, and demonstrate his commitment to Africa and Africans, the new Pope must address the role the Catholic Church played in the transatlantic slave trade and the colonisation of the continent.
Three years ago, in July 2022, the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing (GCRH), a coalition of reparations advocates, scholars, artists, and activists from around the world, met with Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council of Culture, to make this very point.
With this meeting in Vatican City, the coalition aimed to spark a discussion with the Church about the significant, long-lasting damage its extensive involvement in the transatlantic slave trade inflicted on Africa and its global diaspora.
To facilitate a collaborative process for healing, GCRH representatives shared with the Church a comprehensive 15-page presentment that chronicles its historical abuses in Africa.
It is no longer possible to brush the sins of the Catholic Church on the continent under the carpet.
Beginning in the 15th century, Portuguese monarchs sought the approval and assistance of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church to advance their territorial ambitions in Africa. In response to these royal requests, several pontiffs – who claimed to be the earthly representatives of Jesus Christ – issued papal bulls, or official public decrees, that sanctioned military actions in Africa and supported the transatlantic slave trade, as well as the ongoing enslavement of Africans. These bulls provided the moral and legal justification for the trafficking and enslavement of Africans, as well as for European imperialism and colonisation in Africa, all purportedly in the name of Jesus Christ.
After the slave trade ended, the Church shifted its focus on supporting the colonisation of the continent. It was, for example, critical to the colonisation of my country – Zimbabwe – functioning both as a catalyst and a beneficiary of its blood-soaked benefits.
Missionary initiatives, frequently linked with the expansion of colonial territories, sought to convert “primitive” indigenous populations and validate European dominance. In 1890, two chaplains – one affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church and the other with the Anglican Church – became part of a “Pioneer Column force” that engaged in military conflict against African communities, leading to the colonisation of Mashonaland in present-day Zimbabwe.
After the conquest of Mashonaland, the Catholic Church promptly created mission stations on land stolen from local communities. With time, Catholic missionaries played a dual and often conflicting role. They provided moral and cultural justification for violent European expansion but also founded mission hospitals and schools in areas devoid of such services, including the renowned St. Francis Xavier’s Kutama College and Gokomere High School. Nevertheless, their positive contributions in areas of healthcare and education failed to erase the damage they inflicted on the land and its people by backing and participating in their colonial takeover.
The enthusiastic support the Church provided to western imperialists not only proved instrumental in the colonisation of the continent, but also served to establish a racial hierarchy that deemed Africans inferior and legitimised white supremacy. Even centuries after the abolition of slavery, the impact of this once Church-approved racial hierarchy continues to shape social systems, governance, law enforcement and economic opportunities for Africans in the diaspora—from South America to Europe and North America.
The police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 in the US, which gave way to the emergence of the global Black Lives Matter movement, was just one example of the enduring consequences of these racial hierarchies the Church actively helped built. The situation is not much better outside the US. In August 2024, Ashwini KP, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, said 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.”
The Church must urgently take meaningful action to make up for its historic sins, and help Africans enduring their deadly consequences on the continent and in the diaspora.
In March 2021, The Jesuits, a major Catholic order, made a groundbreaking commitment to raise $100 million for the descendants of 272 enslaved people they once owned and to foster racial reconciliation projects. Although this amount is much less than the $1 billion initially requested by the descendants, the pledge is a step in the right direction, as it signifies the most significant effort by the Roman Catholic Church to confront its historical role in the enslavement of Africans.
The Vatican, while not outright speaking against reparations for historical wrongs, has always contended that any such actions should be managed in a decentralised manner. The little progress made on this front in many years, however, suggests a new approach is desperately needed.
The National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) and GCRH are calling for a programme endorsed by the Vatican that comprises acceptance of total accountability, a full formal apology, formal reparations, and bona fide healing processes. This echoes the yearly demands for reparations made by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the African Union.
The new Pope will have a unique opportunity to improve on the close rapport Pope Francis had developed with Africans. He can go down in history as the Pope who finally made the Church a true friend of Africa and helped it make up for its worst mistakes by establishing a comprehensive global reparations initiative.
African Catholics have become an important source of the Church’s power and influence in the 21st century. They would expect nothing less from their incoming leader.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
