Not according to Catholics of ages past.
I don't buy the argument that slavery is immoral. It's immorality hinges on who is being enslaved. Remember, prisoners with life sentences are slaves and no one bats an eyelash.
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Slavery as such isn't immoral, if we understand it merely as the compelled servitude of one toward another. "Indentured servitude" is really probably a more precise term, distinguishing it from chattel. I'm not so sure one can find any support for the morality of chattel slavery.
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The two docuмents you referenced are not supportive of chattel. From what I've been able to find, they are not papally sanctioned raids for a slave trade but rather permissions to enslave those infidels whom the Portuguese were driving from their lands (Both docuмents are letters written to Alfonso V of Portugal from Pope Nicholas V). Which of course has always been a fairly usual practice among nations, and not one the Church has ever condemned.
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As far as the Jews go, I think the usual measure taken by princes was simply to expel them or force them to identify themselves. I'm not so sure slavery would even have occurred to such princes as an especially wise idea, since Jews were known to corrupt Catholics. Would a Lord really want his Lady waited on by Jews? When the Jews proved troublesome, as they usually did, segregation-- not servitude-- was the remedy.
Topic: St. Thomas Aquinas Was Not for Enslaving Jews (Read 3706 times)