The artwork in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, shows Judge arriving in the city after her journey from Philadelphia in May 1796. She remained a free woman until her death in 1848

In a new message, Pope Leo XIV has gone farther than any of his predecessors in apologizing for the Holy See’s role in promoting slavery.

Pope Leo XIV has made a historic apology for the role the Holy See played in legitimizing slavery. Leo’s own family history includes both enslaved people and slave owners.

Juneteenth takes place on June 19 each year. The holiday commemorates the end of slavery after the Civil War.

Pope Leo XIV makes history with a formal apology for the Church's role in slavery, acknowledging past injustices for social justice.

Pope Leo XIV issued a historic apology for the Vatican’s role in legitimizing slavery, linking past injustices to new threats from digital technology.

By Crispian Balmer VATICAN CITY, May 25 (Reuters) - Pope Leo on Monday issued the clearest apology yet from a pontiff for the Catholic Church's role in slavery, acknowledging both its delay in condemning the practice and its historic involvement in legitimising it.

Read more coverage of America 250 in Connecticut. The first recording of enslaved Africans in Connecticut is in 1639 when an enslaved Black boy named Louis Berbice, from Dutch Guiana, was killed by his owner in Hartford,