Peter Nixon links to an interesting article about the Catholic Church's position on slavery over the centuries. The writer says the Church hasn't gotten enough credit for its opposition; no less than St. Thomas Aquinas declared it to be opposed to natural law, and various popes denounced American slavery since it first started. In Peter's comments, however, Neil Dhingra disagrees to some extent. I don't know enough about this to comment, but I though it was interesting.