Abstract

This article analyses the attitude of the Catholic Church, and of the Society of Jesus in particular, towards slavery, focusing on the case of Pedro Claver (1580-1654), a Catalan Jesuit who was beatified by Pius IX in 1850, canonized by Leo XIII in 1888, and has become a symbol of the Catholic Church’s struggle against slavery. Pope Francis’s rediscovery of the Jesuit is part of his vision of a Church of the humble and marginalised. However, an analysis of the contemporary sources shows that he was far from being opposed to the slaveholding system. As a missionary in Cartagena de Indias, Claver devoted himself to the spiritual care of the sick, prisoners and slaves arriving at the port, one of the centres of the Atlantic slave trade. Rather than an opponent of slavery, Claver appears to have been a hunter of souls. Not only did he use slaves owned by the local Jesuit college, but he also aroused the suspicion of the local Inquisition to the point of being prosecuted and condemned.