Although many expect the first Pope from Africa, that will not happen: the Church has already had three

The death of Pope Francis and the changes his pontificate introduced in the Vatican and throughout the Church have raised expectations about his successor. The election of Peter's new representative renews the idea that the next bishop of Rome will come from outside Europe , with a special focus on Asia and Africa .

It's that, in times like the ones currently facing the Catholic faithful and the Church of Rome, it becomes commonplace to pray for the arrival of a Black or African Para . However, the throne of Peter boasts not one but three men in its history who hail from that continent and whose skin color could have been Black.

These were pontiffs who occupied the highest place in the ecclesiastical hierarchy during the first centuries of the Church , between 189 AD and 496 AD. These popes were originally from North Africa , a region that was included and/or influenced by the Roman Empire, and who during the first centuries of Christianity showed great activity and vigor in the life of faith.

According to various portals, such as África Mundi, the African popes who governed the Church were Victor I, Melquiades and Gelasius I.

The first African Pope was Victor I and he ruled the Church between 189 AD and 199 AD. He is believed to have been born in Leptis Magna, present-day Libya, or Tebessa, between present-day Algeria and Tunisia .

Victor I was responsible for unifying Easter on one day around the world, the Sunday following the Jewish Passover. He was also the first Pope to affirm the existence of a moral magisterium of the Bishopric of Rome over the other bishoprics of the Church and the one who began replacing the Greek used in the liturgy with Latin.

Pope Victor I

Gentleness

He maintained relations with the imperial house through Marcia , a Christian catechumen who was the concubine of the Emperor Commodus . Victor gave her a list of Christians condemned to the mines in Sardinia and secured their release.

According to the catholic.net website, Saint Victor died before the persecution of Septimius Severus , but died a martyr on July 28, 199.

The second African pontiff was Melquiades , who was of Berber origin. Although there is little information about his birthplace, it is located in North Africa , and he governed the Church between 311 and 314 .

During the papacy of Melquiades, in 311 or 310 , an edict of tolerance was signed by the emperors Galerius, Licinius, and Constantine, which put an end to the great persecution of Christians. Christians were allowed to live as Christians and rebuild their places of religious worship.

Pope Melquiades

Gentleness

This pope witnessed the defeat of Marcus Aurelius Maxentius and the entry into Rome of Emperor Constantine, after the victory at the Milvian Bridge (October 27, 312).

The emperor then presented the Lateran Palace to the Roman Church, which then became the residence of the Pope and also the seat of the central administration of the Roman Church.

Melquiades fell victim to the attacks of the Donatists and convened a council to condemn their doctrines. Rigorous Donatism, initiated by Donatus, bishop of Carthage, preached that only priests of blameless life could administer the sacraments, and that sinners could not be members of the Church.

According to the Liber Pontificalis , it began with the practice of distributing in the churches of Rome the Eucharist consecrated by the Pope himself.

He died in 314 and was buried in the cemetery of Saint Callixtus. He is considered a martyr for the suffering he endured under the Emperor Maximian.

The third African pope in the Catholic Church is Gelasius I. There is no exact data, but it is believed that Gelasius was also born in North Africa and was of Roman-African or Berber ancestry.

His papacy lasted from 492 AD to 496 AD and he had tensions with the Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasius I in Constantinople and defended his authority as Pope against the latter's interference.

Pope Gelasius I

Gentleness

He organized the Roman liturgy and left theological writings that influenced Catholic doctrine for centuries, such as those that emphasized his efforts to combat heresy and promote Christian unity.