The Three African Popes Part 2

The death of Pope Francis now leaves a void in the Papacy. He was a man for the people who sought out the poor and serviced them with empathy which is missing in our world today. He went into the prisons and gave attention to those who are less fortunate. He cared for the poor and the migrants. The Catholic church is not without criticism. The child abuse scan dals have left their mark. The church was also criticized for its silence during the enslavement of African People. How ever, the goal of this article is to give some history that many people are not aware of about the popes who served.

I have researched this topic for many years. The majority of the information comes from a publication called Liber Pontificallis. This book gives bio graphical information about the ancient popes. It records the dates and interesting facts about each one. The world is watching now to see who will be the next pope to head the Catholic church. Pope Francis selected a majority of the cardi nals will vote on the next pope. A few of the cardinals are of African descent. One is from Ghana and another one is from the Congo. Sometime in May they will meet in a conclave to make a decision.

The three African Popes (in order) are Victor 1, St. Militi ades, and Gelasius 1. Victor 1, served from 189 to 198. He was the first Latin speaking pope. He wanted to encourage the Asian churches to accept the Roman method of calculating the celebration of Easter. He sought to bring about unity within the church. He called upon the Bishops to celebrate Easter on Sunday. He threat ened to exclude them from the church if they did not do it. There was much disagree ment but in the end he pre vailed. Pope Victor was a native of Africa. He was pope during the reign of the African Roman Emperor Septimus Severus. Victor was responsible for the release of Christians from labor in Sardinia, It was during his time that Latin became part of the Western church.

The next pope of African descent was St. Militiades. He served from 311 – 314. He was born in North Africa. He intro duced fasting for Christians as an important part of sacrifice on Sundays and Thursdays. He is considered to be a mar tyr because of the early suffer ing under the Roman emperor Maximian. His bio is also listed in the Liber Pontificallis. On major holidays such as Eas ter and Christmas the faithful looked to Rome for instruction.

The third pope was Gelasius 1. He served from 492 – 496. Pope Gelasius was a prolific writer. He wrote over 100 let ters and other writings empha sizing the beliefs of the church. He examined the subjects that Christians needed to serve the church. He was called the “Vic ar of Christ.” He was of Afri can descent. Another source of information about these early popes can be found in the writ ings of Dr. Thomas F. Noble. He gives some interesting facts about the popes saying that they were not all perfect. It is a close look at the history of the Catholic church that many people do not know.