266 Luigi Conti
their evangelical mission and pressing for a fresh condemnation. This was
issued by the Holy Office on 20 March 1686.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, during the pontificate of
Clement XI (1700-21), Rome was forced to take more severe measures: despite
all the previous documents on the subject it was clear that slavery continued to
exist and was even spreading. But Rome was convinced that no improvement
was possible without the real co-operation of the King of Portugal, whose
colonial Empire included a large part of the New World. So in 1707 the Sacred
Congregation 'de Propaganda Fide' adjured the Papal Nuncios in Lisbon and
Madrid, and all those in a position to do so, to act so as to bring about the
abolition of slavery—'di procurare in ogni canto l'estirpazione degl'istessi
gravissimi sconcerti'. But this appeal met with practically no response.
In the Instruction sent by the Sacred Congregation 'de Propaganda Fide'
to the new Papal Nuncio in Lisbon, Vincenzo Bichi, the question of slavery
was dealt with at length. The Congregation required slaves to be given a
holiday not only on Sundays and feast days but also on Saturdays. This is
probably the first demand in history for a five-day week.
In their meetings on 15 December 1738 and 28 November 1741, the
Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation 'de Propaganda Fide' again dealt at
length with the question of slavery. Thus on 22 December 1741, Pope Benedict
XIV (1740-58), in the Papal Constitution Immensa, once more condemned
slavery in the same terms as Paul III and Urban VIII. Although the Constitu-
tion referred specifically to the enslavement of the American Indians (and, as
a result, the king of Portugal, by the law of 6 June 1755, forbade the enslave-
ment of the Indians and ordered them to be set free), it was also applied to the
enslavement of Negroes. In several other documents the Sacred Congregation
extended the ban on slavery among the Indians to slavery among the blacks.
In 1758 a copy of the Constitution Immensa was sent to the Prefect of the
Capuchins in the Congo.
When the anti-slavery movement was gaining ground in Europe and
Africa at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century,
the Popes and the Sacred Congregation 'de Propaganda Fide' contribued
amply to the eradication of slavery and the awakening of consciences.^4
Pius VII wrote to the governments of Spain, Portugal and Brazil. In
1823, in a letter to the king of Portugal, Pope Pius VII again insisted on the
abolition of slavery in the king's colonial empire.^5
Any scientific inquiry on the subject should appraise the decisive part
that Pope Pius VII played through his Representative at the Congress of
Vienna (1814-15) to bring slavery to an end. It was through this Congress
that Pius VII brought the full weight of his authority to bear on the subject.
And in fact he did bring about abolition.
On 3 December 1837, Gregory XVI, in the Brief 'In Supremo Aposto-