 The exact meaning and scope of the Bull was disputed at the time, and remains so among historians.That new enslavements and slave-trading are condemned and forbidden absolutely is clear, but the language in the passage quoted below and other passages was not sufficiently specific to make clear what, if anything, the bull had to say about the ongoing ownership of those already slaves, although their sale seemed to be prohibited.There was certainly no clear call for the emancipation of all existing slaves, as had already happened in the British and French Empires.