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IBW 21 - Institute of the Black World 21st Century

For Immediate Release
July 18, 2022

Global Reparations Leaders Call Meeting With the Vatican Successful Collaborative Process for Repair to Begin

(Vatican City) Under the umbrella of the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing, a delegation of global reparations leaders was received today, July 18, 2022, in a formal meeting at the Vatican, by Bishop Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Pontifical Council of Culture, along with his assistant.

The purpose of the meeting was to begin a dialog with the Catholic Church on its role in sanctioning and benefiting from the Transatlantic slave trade and its legacy that inflicted immeasurable harm on Africa and its Global Diaspora.

Speaking on behalf of the Global Circle, Kamm Howard, Director of Reparations United, Dr Ron Daniels, convenor of National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC), Dr. Amara Enyia, strategist for the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing, and Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the 1619 Project, delivered a Presentment outlining the harms and offenses of the Church, the legacy resulting from those harms and offenses and reparations measures that are needed for full repair and healing.

In his response, Bishop Tighe suggested that the moment is “ripe” for the Presentment to be seriously considered by the Church under the guidance of Pope Francis.

He cited Pope Francis’s encyclical Fratelli Tutti as evidence of the Pontiffs commitment to explore issues of justice, equality, and reconciliation.

Bishop Tighe agreed to share the Presentment to leaders within the Church and offered suggestions for initiating a process for moving forward with talks.

Coming at a moment of Global reckoning on matters on racial justice and reparations, the spokespersons and representatives of the Global Circle and supporters present concurred that the meeting with Bishop Tighe was welcoming and productive.

In addition, they agreed, the meeting could provide a roadmap that allows the parties to move forward on reparatory justice.

The Presentment will be translated in various languages and circulated widely in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and North, Central and South America, i.e., Africa and It’s Global Diaspora, to create public awareness on the destructive role of the Catholic Church in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

The ultimate goal is to galvanize a global engagement with the Catholic Church to achieve reparatory justice.

The Global Circle for Reparations and Healing is a group of US and African reparations leaders and organizations committed to building a global culture of Repair.