Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 68.107.174.166 (talk) at 08:34, 17 December 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

An African pope is a pope of African origin, birth, or heritage.

Roman Catholic Church

Three Africans have occupied the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church.

According to the records of the Liber Pontificalis, all three were from the Roman Province of Africa (corresponding to the territory of modern Tunisia and Libya). The conquest of Byzantine North Africa by Islam during the 7th century largely eliminated the chance for another African pope until modern times.

• Pope Victor I (189 to 199)
• Pope Miltiades (310/311 to 314)
• Pope Gelasius I (492 to 496)

Other churches

The Eastern Orthodox Church has a patriarch whose formal title is the Patriarch and Pope of Alexandria and All Africa. In addition, the head of the Coptic Church is traditionally styled the Coptic Pope and is also based in Alexandria, Egypt. Many of the incumbents of these two offices could, in a strict sense, be considered "African popes".

• African popes