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Handout #190 |
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Slavery, commerce and evangelization in Africa |
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Commerce, and particularly the trade in black slaves
countenanced by the missionaries, completely perverted the proclamation of
the gospel in Africa. The King of the Congo was aware of this, the Capucin
missionary was not.
Complaints of Alfonso I, King of the Congo (1506-1543 A.D.), to the King of Portugal We ask your Highness not to believe the evil said of us by those whose only concern is their commerce, to sell those whom they have acquired unjustly, who by their trade are ruining our kingdom and the Christianity which has been established there for so many years and which cost your predecessors so much sacrifice. We are concerned to preserve this great gift of faith for those who have acquired it. But that can be difficult here when European goods exercise such fascination on the simple and the ignorant that they abandon God in order to secure them. The remedy is the suppression of this merchandise which is a snare laid by the devil for those who sell and those who buy. The lure of gain and cupidity lead the people of the country to steal their compatriots, including members of their own kin and ours, regardless of whether or not they are Christians. They capture them, sell them and barter them. This abuse is so great that we cannot remedy it without striking hard, very hard. |
