Will the Roman Catholic Church elect its first black pope?

May 04, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

On Thursday, May 7, following the Novemdiales Masses to pray for the eternal repose of the late Pope Francis, the conclave to elect the 267th Pope will begin.

And the question on the minds of many is: will the Roman Catholic Church finally break its roughly 2000-year tradition by electing its first black Pope?

There have been three North African (but not black) popes. The last one was Pope Gelasius 1, who held this position from A.D 492 to AD 496.

And this is despite the fact that, of the estimated 1.4 billion Roman Catholics worldwide, about 281 million are African, representing 20 percent of the world’s Roman Catholics.

But currently, no Vatican office is headed by an African.

That may soon change.

Of the Cardinals who are said to be front-runners, two are Black.

They are Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (age 76) of Ghana. He was the first Ghanaian to be elected to the position of cardinal, but according to a BBC report, Turkson has claimed that he does not want to be pope. The other African (black) cardinal is Fridolin Ambongo Besungu (65 years), who hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Of the two, he is the better-known. The son of a rubber tree farmer, Besungu was ordained a priest in 1988, was appointed a bishop in 2004, rose to archbishop in 2016, and became a cardinal in 2019.

He has served in several high-ranking positions. He campaigns strongly against the exploitation of African resources by the West.

Ambongo Besungu is currently seen as the spokesman for all of Africa’s Catholic bishops.

But he has also opposed Pope Francis’ stance of blessing gay Roman Catholic couples.

It is said that this caused his status to rise among both conservative and modern-leaning high-ranking Catholics.

A strong environmental and anti-corruption advocate, he has received death threats because of his fierce campaigns against corrupt corporations and corrupt government powers.

It is argued by some that it is tradition, rather than race, that has resulted in the predominance of European popes.

But with the population of African Roman Catholics constantly expanding, and with his growing popularity and influence, is it possible that, very soon, the Roman Catholic faithful will kiss the ring on the finger of a Black pope?

Yours Respectfully,

C Persaud

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