I don't want no 'black face'/African Pope...just saying!
Posted by Bishop gm on 4/23/2025, 2:30 pm
There's lots of noise from folks wanting an African Pope to succeed Pope Francis, but I ain't playing that game! Representation does not always matter.. Sometimes it can backfire spectacularly, eg., Clarence Thomas, and UK opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch, who may become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom..
In other words, let us focus on the agenda and to hell with skin color.. Pope Francis was uniquely progressive, so let's focus on the next Pope also being a progressive personality.. The Catholic Church, at this time in Africa, is very very reactionary & conservative. So an African Pope is expected to be likewise. Amen
Re: I don't want no 'black face'/African Pope...just saying!
I was thinking about the possibility of an African pope this morning- slim and none, I believe. Somehow this story comes to mind:
I recall going to a barbershop years ago where the barber had little statues he made of priests and nuns from all over the world on display. He bragged about his world-wide collection. I saw no Black faces and asked him where the African ones were. He laughed and so did his other customers. i was dead serious. In white America, barber shops are the epicenter of racism. LOL!!!! In fact, the first time I ever heard the N word was in a barbershop in Peoria, Illinois on my 6th birthday in 1953. LOL!! Dad took me to get a haircut that morning. The barber used it describing Cub's great Ernie Banks who was just starting his big-league career. I give my dad credit; he never went back to that barber shop. And I recall vividly that night my dad telling our old Jewish neighbor that story, and the neighbor saying, "I knew that guy (the barber) was a son of a bitch." Ha HA!!!! I learned two new words that day.
Previous Message
There's lots of noise from folks wanting an African Pope to succeed Pope Francis, but I ain't playing that game! Representation does not always matter.. Sometimes it can backfire spectacularly, eg., Clarence Thomas, and UK opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch, who may become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom..
In other words, let us focus on the agenda and to hell with skin color.. Pope Francis was uniquely progressive, so let's focus on the next Pope also being a progressive personality.. The Catholic Church, at this time in Africa, is very very reactionary & conservative. So an African Pope is expected to be likewise. Amen
Re: I don't want no 'black face'/African Pope...just saying!
"I was thinking about the possibility of an African pope this morning - slim and none." Well, on the surface it seems so, but there's a core group of Cardinals who deeply resented Pope Francis' efforts to drag the Vatican into the 21st century and to make the church a more enlightened institution. I have no doubt in my mind those traditionalists would see the usefulness of a Black/African Pope reversing all the progressive gains Francis instituted during his reign. An African-MAGA Pope would be a godsend for these reactionary cardinals.
I get your point though, it would be jarring for many Catholics to suddenly have a Black Pope as head of the church
You two gentlemen have made me indelibly more educated, today. I suppose I could have furrowed through to such insight. But I unpretentiously say, "Your aforementioned points are resolutely gainful, to me."
Previous Message
Lol.. great story but a sad one!
"I was thinking about the possibility of an African pope this morning - slim and none." Well, on the surface it seems so, but there's a core group of Cardinals who deeply resented Pope Francis' efforts to drag the Vatican into the 21st century and to make the church a more enlightened institution. I have no doubt in my mind those traditionalists would see the usefulness of a Black/African Pope reversing all the progressive gains Francis instituted during his reign. An African-MAGA Pope would be a godsend for these reactionary cardinals.
I get your point though, it would be jarring for many Catholics to suddenly have a Black Pope as head of the church
Previous Message
