Catholicae ecclesiae

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Catholicae ecclesiae is an encyclical of Pope Leos XIII. of November 20, 1890. In it the Pope addresses the missionaries in Africa and condemns slavery.

Slavery and the church

First of all, Leo XIII greets. all missionaries in Africa and illustrates the work of the Church in Africa . He argues that the yoke of slavery and love for man have nothing in common. Every year over four hundred thousand Africans of all ages and sexes are forcibly dragged from their homeland to foreign countries, beaten and sold like cattle. Wherever Christian mores prevail and Christian laws are in force, where religion ensures that people serve justice and respect human dignity, where the brotherly love that Christ himself taught prevails, there is no room for slavery or barbarism but there the gentleness of mind and civilized Christian freedom blossomed.

The African missions

True to the Word of Christ The harvest is great, but there are few workers , many missionaries would be needed for the interior of Africa, filled with the Holy Spirit, who spread the teaching of Christ that leads to true freedom. Through this example, those caught in the morass of arrogance and wretchedness could be enlightened.

The donations for the missions should be sent to the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith, which will distribute them among the missions and use them to establish new missions and to train missionaries. The church takes over the costs for a few years until the missions can sustain themselves. The Pope then determined the feast of the Epiphany as the day on which a collection for the African missions should be held. God revealed himself to all peoples by revealing himself to the astrologers from a distance.

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