Black Popes?

[Ghosty]

What really hurt me and got up my nose the most about his taunts was the way he was saying it, as if to say that we “black people” are brainwashed slaves of the “white-man religion”. There are people i know that have odd ideas similar to this.

The original Muslims certainly weren’t Black, and they literally forced Africans to convert by force, and to remain Muslim by force. In many cases those people forced were Catholics or Orthodox, such as the people of North and East Africa. Apostolic Christianity also existed across Asia (do a search on the Chinese Christians) until it was supressed and wiped out by Muslim conquerers.

I myself am of Middle-Eastern descent, and my ancestors were and remained Christian from times long before Muhammed, and resisted the forced conversions to this day.

Peace and God bless!

 

[mchale]

I think we should also consider the fact that it is increasingly likely that while our current Pope is definitely white, many of the other likely candidates for the Papacy when John Paul II died were not white. It seems very likely that there will be a Pope who is not white in the next 30-40 years. Particularly considering the fact that white active white catholics are definitely becoming a minority in the world.​

Bill

 

[CentralFLJames]

Africant Saints - most are Black/Negro but not all Africans were black:

Saint Anthony the Great of Thebes
Saint Antonio Vieira
Saint Augustine
St. Bessarian
Saint Benedict the Moor
Saint Katharine Drexel (Noteworthy Non-Black)
Saint Martin de Porres
Saint Monica
Saint Moses, The Black
St. Peter Claver (Noteworthy Non-Black)
Saint Valentine and Dubatatius
Saint Victoria

Bottom Line - Christians were generally treated equally bad without special consideration given for race. Being called “Christian” was for many worse than ever being called a slave or a black in some places.

This reminds me of a traditional humorous story I heard about the first time blacks were admitted into a very tough Southern Military College I attended when I was younger.

Reporter: Hi young cadet, I understand you are one of the first blacks ever admitted into this traditionally all white military institution. Are you being treated any different than the white cadets?

Black Cadet: No sir - they pretty much treat all of us here as if everyone was either a black or Catholic.

James

 

[Aslieas]

Well, I was going to name my patron saint, St. Benedict the Moor, but someone beat me to it!

I just wanted to say that it has never particularly mattered to the Church whether a pope or a saint or a bishop was white, or black, or reddish, or tartan. So, there may be several past leaders who were not white, and we would have no way of knowing what they looked like. It just wasn’t relevant information to record.

I hope this helps!

 

[ConallCernach]

Jesus’ ministry took place in modern day Palestine. Most of His apostles are likely not to be Caucasian, if this is all the argument ensues. The Church, from the very beginning, was not a “white organization”.

Pax

 

[jimmy]

Has there ever been a black Pope, or a Pope that wasn’t white?
I have no problem with white Popes, but i was just wondering because a Muslim friend of mine was challenging my faith and one of the things he criticized me for was the “whiteness” of my Catholic Faith.

Its my fault really. I spend more time doing metaphysics then i do learning about my faith; and because of my intellectual laziness regarding Catholic history(a topic i am engaging with slowly) i didn’t have any arguments to defeat my friends beliefs.
I am aware that there was at least one black saint, and some bishops and priests. But I’m sure you are going to surprise me with a lot more that i didn’t know about.

Christianity is far more diverse than the islam. South America is almost 100% Christian (Catholic). Ethiopia and Eritrea have large numers of Christians (I don’t know the numbers). They have there foundation in the book of Acts. There are also the Copts in Egypt which have a patriarchate in Alexandria which was founded by St. Mark. There are the Churches in the middle east including the east Syriacs and west Syriacs. There are the Churches in India including the Malabars and Malankaras which have been there since the very beginning of Christianity and claim St. Thomas as their founder. There are Christians in China. China is interesting considering that there are 7th century artifacts from China which contain the Our Father written in Syriac. There are also 7th and 8th century treatises that have been found in China that were written for the sake of preaching the gospel. Some of these are written in light of the Chinese religious traditions. And then there is Europe with Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Russia, and etc. We could then add North America. We are everywhere.

Islam on the other hand is largely confined to the middle east and northern Africa.

 

[rossum]

Islam on the other hand is largely confined to the middle east and northern Africa.

You are incorrect. The most populous moslem country is Indonesia, and Malaysia is moslem as well. Pakistan and Bangladesh and the various Central Asian moslem countries are outside the area you mention.

rossum