Between the Cross and Captivity: The Catholic Church and Slavery in Colonial and Imperial Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes the ambiguous role of the Catholic Church in the enslavement of indigenous and African peoples in colonial and imperial Brazil between the 16th and 19th centuries. It discusses how the institution simultaneously participated in legitimizing the enslavement system of Black Africans and in formulating discourses defending the humanity of indigenous peoples. Using papal bulls, colonial legislation, and historiographical interpretations, it examines the patronage system, Jesuit activity, the "just war," and the difference between the Church's stance on indigenous and African slavery. It argues that the colonial Church was deeply integrated into the Portuguese political project, often functioning as an instrument to sustain the slave order, even though sectors of the clergy criticized abuses and defended moral limits to captivity. In the context of Imperial Brazil, the Catholic Church remained strongly subordinate to the State through regalism and the legacy of the patronage system, functioning more as a support for the social and political order than as an autonomous force for social transformation.