Pope’s slavery apology ‘proper and just,’ says bishop who heads National Black Catholic Congress

June 3, 2026 | OSV News

By Gina Christian | OSV News

(OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV’s acknowledgment of the Church’s role in slavery is “only proper and just,” said Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., who is president of the National Black Catholic Congress.

And the task ahead is to take concrete action to heal slavery’s legacy, added the prelate, who retired recently as an auxiliary bishop of Washington.