Jesuit priests pledged Monday to raise $100 million for the descendants of people enslaved by the Catholic order as part of a new racial reconciliation initiative in the U.S., the New York Times first reported.

Why it matters: It’s one of the biggest moves by an institution to atone for slavery, and “the largest effort by the Roman Catholic Church to make amends for the buying, selling and enslavement of Black people,” church officials and historians told the NYT…

Details: In a “first-of-its-kind partnership” among descendants of both the enslaved and enslavers, the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation was created by the GU272 Descendants Association and the Jesuits “in the pursuit of racial healing and justice,” per a statement from the Catholic order.

The foundation is “rooted in the events of 1838, when 272 enslaved men, women and children were sold by the Jesuit owners of Georgetown University to plantation owners in Louisiana,” according to the statement.