VATICAN CITY
allAfrica
By Luke Lythgoe, 11 February 2013
ANALYSIS
In the wake of Pope Benedict XVI’s shock resignation, bookmakers and international media alike are heralding the prospect of Rome’s first black African pontiff.
With the shock resignation this morning of Pope Benedict XVI, the international media has gone into overdrive in an attempt to predict the next spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Could the world finally see its first black pope?
The Church (with more than one billion followers worldwide and counting) has had three ‘African’ popes in its history – all from the North African provinces of the Roman Empire and none since the fifth century. However, the latest papal election could very realistically see the first black – indeed, first truly non-European – pope.
In recent years, the Catholic leadership has become increasingly global in makeup, finally starting to represent Catholic demographics across the planet. Catholicism is truly global, with the majority of the Catholic community living in the Americas today. Second place goes to Europe, and third to Africa. However, over the last decade the number of Europeans adhering to the Catholic faith has been in decline, while Catholicism in Africa is on the rise.
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