Pope Visits Angola Slave Trade Site, Honors Ancestors

Pope Leo XIV stood where enslaved Africans once walked and prayed for a better world. The American pope, whose own family tree includes both enslaved people and slave owners, visited the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima in Angola on Sunday.

The site carries painful history. Built by Portuguese colonizers in the 1500s, the Church of Our Lady of Muxima was where enslaved Africans were baptized before being forced to walk 70 miles to ships bound for the Americas.

Speaking Portuguese before 30,000 gathered pilgrims, Leo honored "the sorrow and great suffering" endured by generations at this place. He prayed the Rosary in the simple whitewashed church that later became a pilgrimage site after reported appearances of the Virgin Mary in 1833.

The visit matters deeply to many Black Catholics worldwide. "For Black Catholics, Pope Leo's visit to the Muxima shrine is an important moment of healing," said Anthea Butler, a scholar at Oxford University's Koch Center.

Angola sent more than 5 million people across the Atlantic on slave ships, nearly half of all enslaved Africans forced to the Americas. Many were baptized Catholic before boarding those ships, connecting their descendants to the Church through that painful history.

Why This Inspires

Leo's willingness to physically stand at this site of suffering represents something scholars say matters: acknowledgment. His presence at Muxima, rather than avoiding its difficult past, shows leadership willing to face uncomfortable history.

After the prayers, Leo urged the crowd to build "a better, more welcoming world, where there are no more wars, no injustices, no poverty, no dishonesty." He reviewed plans for a new basilica at the sacred site.

The visit continues conversations about healing and reconciliation between the Church and African communities affected by slavery and colonialism.