Betting on the next pope

You can bet on individuals, nationalities, number of ballots, and which Papal name he will take upon consecration.

The favorite in “nationalities” is “the field,” which consists of “countries that have never had a pope.” That is considered marginally more likely than “Italy.”

Which countries are in “the field”? For starters, there has never been a pope from North America. The article also states that no Asian or African pope has ever been elected. Is that true?

Yes and no.

Yes, if you consider only the modern election process. There have been several Asian popes and at least three Africans, but they reigned before the modern election process was created. The College of Cardinals wasn’t established until 1059, more than a full millennium after the death of Jesus, while the last non-European Pope (before Francis) died two centuries earlier.

No, if you consider other forms of election. The article does not specify “elected by the College of Cardinals.” It just says “elected.” The early popes were chosen through a different election process. Linus, the first successor to Peter on the traditional list, is sometimes considered the first elected pope. Alternatively, Pope Pius I, around 140 or 150 CE, is considered by other historians to be the first elected pope. Whichever of those you accept, Asian and African Popes have been elected.

There were many in the early church.

• Besides the famous St. Peter, two others were born in what is now Israel. (Pope Evaristus, and Pope Theodore I).
• Popes Anicetus, John V, Sisinnius, Constantine and Gregory III (the last non-European before Francis) were Syrians.
• Popes John VI and Conon came from what is now Turkey.
• Popes Victor I and Gelasius I were from an area now part of either Libya or Tunisia.
• Pope Miltiades also came from North Africa, was possibly of Berber descent, and may have had very dark skin.

I’m sure you know that St. Peter, the first Pope, was Judean. His exact birthplace is debated because the town of his birth no longer exists, but scholars agree that it was somewhere on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, so he was Asian. Peter, however, is not within the purview of this commentary because there is a universal consensus that he was not chosen by election.

But there are still more nuances. If you want to be persnickety, Peter was the leader of the church, but was not called a pope. Later, among his successors in the early church, all bishops were called “pope.” The official use of the title “Pope” as it is currently understood – the Bishop of Rome in a position of absolute primacy over church doctrine – did not come into effect until the reign of Pope Gregory VII (1073-85). The line of succession was traced back to Peter.

So the answer to “Have there ever been Asian and African Popes?” is “It depends on your definition of ‘Pope.'” If Peter and the others before 1073 are considered Popes, then yes. The Catholic Church considers Peter and a long list of successors to have been Popes, so there have been Asian and African popes by their definition, and almost all of them were elected, albeit not by the modern process. But be aware that Peter’s papacy is retroactive, not contemporaneous. There is no indication that he was ever called Pope Peter in his time. You could make an argument that the Papacy, as we understand it today, representing the undisputed head of the Church, as chosen by the College of Cardinals, started in the 11th century. By that definition, the chair was occupied exclusively by Europeans until Francis came along. Therefore, if we narrow the question to “Has an Asian or African Pope ever been elected by the College of Cardinals?” we can give a definitive answer.

No.