Catholics dismissed notions that Africans were biologically inferior to other humans, insisted that slaves be permitted to marry and receive an education, frequently expressed doubts about the morality of slavery as it existed in the nineteenth century, and almost never defended slavery as an unqualified good. But most Catholics accepted slavery in principle, with even twentieth-century theologians declaring slavery “not in itself intrinsically wrong.” Fearful of social disorder and unwilling to distinguish the suffering of slaves from other human miseries, Catholics lumped immediate slave emancipation with a religious and political radicalism that threatened the foundations of society.
