Abstract
Within a century, between 1890 and 1981, the missionary press introduced a renewed language towards African peoples. This happened during the Holy See's rapprochement process with Africa and the Third World in the XX Century. It was decided to compare three publications related to the liberation of slaves and to the anti-slavery efforts made by Catholic missionaries, an activity considered fundamental by the Church in defining the meaning of its presence in Africa. Firstly, a novel entitled Avorio Nero (Black Ivory) was examined, first published in 1959 and reprinted for the second time in 1981, twenty-two years later. The comparison between the two editions was useful to show how the missionary literary genre was transformed during the second half of the 20th century to keep up with the political and doctrinal changes that swept through Catholic institutions. Next, the analysis of the two editions was compared with a letter published in 1890 in the magazine Le Missioni Cattoliche by French missionaries in Senegambia, in which an episode of the liberation of a slave girl is described. The comparison is decisive because it shows continuity and discontinuity over a long period in missionary publications.