Letter of our Most Holy Lord, Leo XIII, to the most Eminent Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Carthage and Algiers, 27th October, 1888.

To our dear Son, Greetings and the Apostolic Blessing.

Urged on by charity, we have assigned to you, a great and difficult task: namely, that you should apply every means in your power, to put an end to the enslavement of so many oppressed people in Africa. This task, which you have undertaken so willingly and magnanimously, clearly concerns the very salvation of humankind. Day by day, as is evident from your correspondence, you become ever more passionate for this cause, refusing no labour, however onerous, and actively seeking any opportunities that may further this cause.

Moreover, we cannot, and should not, restrain ourselves from testifying to you in this letter, how much we applaud the very positive and appreciated beginnings you have made, which we know have stirred up the less active bishops.

We pray earnestly for a successful conclusion to this good and noble cause; and these satisfactory beginnings cause us to trust that God will indeed bring that success.
At the Berlin Conference of 1878, Europe’s greatest leaders promised to act more energetically in the face of such a huge evil, and we observe that the sympathy of many ordinary citizens has been aroused by your publications and your lectures. Your fellow citizens [of France] have shown great generosity, and the Belgians too are ready to come to the aid of those who suffer such hardships. The British have revealed real merit in their dealings with the calamity of the Ethiopian slaves [i.e. black]. And the Catholics of Germany and the Portuguese, have acted righteously, as we should expect. Likewise, we do not hesitate to affirm our conviction that the Italians and Spanish will be future supporters and helpers in this great enterprise.

As our people have come to a greater recognition of the horrible evils of African slavery, hearts and minds have been inflamed with the sentiments of Christian charity and with an urgent search for remedies. The people of Europe have shown their approval and gratitude to you, and we believe that you will continue to obtain their active support and generosity.

And so, we do not exhort you, for the energy you have shown does not need any exhortation, but rather we congratulate you. May God be your protector as you go on with the same determination and constancy, following up what has already been done.
A Bishop’s charity could not be employed more usefully, nor in any other task could you better merit the name of Christian. A sacred liberty is the right of all humanity, as both Christian and Natural Law proclaim. If any in the Church have been complicit in slavery at any time, or have connived at it, or have not laboured sufficiently for its abolition, they have shown themselves to be without grace and ignorant. History has shown to us very clearly what missionaries in Africa itself, and what successive Supreme Pontiffs in Rome, Heads of the Catholic world, have exerted themselves to do.

Have no doubt that in this affair, and however we can, we will support your labours. As a pledge of our good will, please receive these three hundred thousand Papal Lira, which we assign to you gladly. Distribute it carefully and suitably, either among your fellow workers, or to institutes for the abolition of slavery in Africa.

Certainly nothing can be more pleasing to us than to come to the aid of human beings who have been treated so inhumanely Catholics of every nation, whose generosity towards us throughout this year has been outstanding, will appreciate how the fruits of their munificence have been applied to the ending of such inhuman abuse, and for the protection of the human dignity of so many of our brothers and sisters.

Take courage, our dear Son, and place all your hope on God, the Father and Saviour of all humankind. God is the witness and protector of our paternal benevolence towards you, and our good will towards all your clergy and people – to whom we impart most affectionately in the Lord our apostolic blessing.

Given at St Peter’s, Rome on 27th October 1888, in the eleventh year of our pontificate.
Pope Leo XIII.