Editing Pope Pius VII (section)

===Opposition to slavery===
Pius VII joined the declaration of the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna]], represented by Cardinal Secretary of State [[Ercole Consalvi]], and urged the suppression of the [[Atlantic slave trade]]. This pertained particularly to places such as [[Slavery in colonial Spanish America|Spain]] and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]] where slavery was economically very important. The pope wrote a letter to King [[Louis XVIII]] of France dated 20 September 1814 and to King [[John VI of Portugal]] in 1823 to urge the end of slavery. He condemned the slave trade and defined the sale of people as an injustice to the dignity of the human person. In his letter to the king of Portugal, he wrote: "the pope regrets that this trade in blacks, that he believed having ceased, is still exercised in some regions and even more cruel way. He begs and begs the King of Portugal that it implement all its authority and wisdom to extirpate this unholy and abominable shame."