Introduction: A Historic Opportunity
For over two millennia, the Catholic Church has stood as one of the oldest, most enduring institutions in human history. Its leadership, the papacy, has shaped not just spiritual trajectories but also geopolitical realities. Yet today, a powerful moment of historic reckoning faces the Church: the opportunity, and moral imperative, to elect an African Pope. Not as an act of mere symbolism, but as a deep, necessary reflection of Catholicism’s changing heart.
At the close of 2023, Africa’s Catholic population had surged to a staggering 281 million faithful, representing nearly 20 percent of the global Catholic community of 1.406 billion (Catholic News Agency, 2024). In just a decade under the leadership of Pope Francis, the African Church has grown from 185 million in 2013 to this unprecedented figure, a 52 percent rise (Associated Press, 2024). No other continent matches Africa’s pace of Catholic expansion.
While vocations decline sharply across Europe and the Americas, Africa is the sole region registering increases. Between 2022 and 2023 alone, the number of major seminarians rose 1.1 percent, from 34,541 to 34,924 (Pontifical Yearbook 2025). Africa is not just the Church’s future—it is its present heartbeat. Against this backdrop, the Vatican faces a historic moment: the urgent moral and strategic imperative to elect an African pope.
Africa: The New Heart of Catholicism
Demographic projections from the World Christian Database forecast that by 2050, African Catholics will comprise 32 percent of the global Church (The Pillar, 2024). From Lagos to Kinshasa, Nairobi to Dakar, cathedrals overflow with vibrant, youthful congregations. In contrast, Western Europe experiences an existential decline in Catholic identity: Mass attendance struggles at under 10 percent in France, approximately 16 percent in Germany, and about 27 percent in Spain (Pew Research Center, 2013).
Africa’s parishes and seminaries, filled with fervor and hope, present a compelling contrast. A Church seeking revitalization cannot ignore where the Spirit is visibly alive.
Vocations Flourish: A Surging Clergy Pipeline
In North America and Europe, seminaries are closing in various regions. Meanwhile, in several African countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, seminaries have waiting lists due to high demand. These numbers reflect ongoing interest and participation in religious education across different regions.
With more young men and women entering religious life every year, Africa offers a durable clerical infrastructure for the Church’s future missionary and pastoral needs.
A Forgotten Legacy: Africa’s Ancient Papal Contribution
In Christianity’s first millennium, Roman North Africa was a theological and leadership powerhouse. It produced three popes:
- Pope Victor I (c. 189–199 AD), an early advocate for Latin liturgy.
- Pope Miltiades (r. 311–314 AD), under whom Christianity was legalized.
- Pope Gelasius I (r. 492–496 AD), who articulated the doctrine of Church and state dualism.
Since Gelasius’s death in 496 AD, no African has ascended to the papacy. That hiatus—over 1,500 years—contradicts the Church’s mission to reflect its global flock.
Restoring Africa to the papal lineage would not be a novelty; it would honor Catholicism’s deep and ancient African roots.
Representation Matters: Bridging the Electoral Gap
Africa is experiencing significant growth, but representation at the highest levels remains uneven. Currently, out of 135 cardinal electors eligible to vote in a future conclave, 18 are from Africa, accounting for 13.3 percent, while Europe has 53 electors, making up 39.3 percent of the vote.
This misalignment not only distorts the demographics of today’s Church but risks sidelining the voices of the majority of tomorrow’s Catholics. Electing an African pope would realign leadership with the lived reality of Catholicism in the 21st century.
What African Leadership Brings to the Church
African Catholicism embodies critical strengths that the global Church urgently needs:
- Resilience: In regions scarred by war, poverty, and persecution, African Catholics have cultivated a faith tested by fire, enduring Boko Haram’s terror in Nigeria and civil unrest in the Sahel.
- Joyful Worship: African liturgies infuse Catholicism with color, music, and an exuberant spirit of community worship often absent in secularized Europe.
- Orthodox Fidelity: African bishops remain staunch defenders of traditional Church teaching on marriage, life, and the sacraments.
- Social Justice Leadership: Figures like Cardinal Peter Turkson have led global conversations on climate change, poverty, and economic inequality—issues inseparable from today’s Gospel mission.
An African pope would embody resilience, dynamism, orthodoxy, and compassion: precisely the medicine the global Church requires.
African Cardinal Electors (2025)
As the Catholic Church looks toward the future, the African continent stands poised for historic significance. Representing vibrant faith communities across North, West, Central, East, Southern Africa, and the island nations, these 18 African cardinal electors—each under the age of 80—are fully eligible to participate in the next papal conclave. Together, they form a dynamic cohort of leaders whose collective wisdom, pastoral experience, and regional diversity mark a powerful shift in the global Catholic landscape. For the first time in nearly two thousand years, the possibility of an African pope is not merely theoretical—it is tangible, with these distinguished men representing the complete slate of African papabili.
North Africa
- Cardinal Jean-Paul VESCO (Algeria) — Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization; born 10 March 1962 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Cristóbal LÓPEZ ROMERO (Morocco) — Archbishop of Rabat; born 19 May 1952 (Vatican Press)
West Africa
- Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah TURKSON (Ghana) — Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Social Sciences; born 11 October 1948 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Jean-Pierre KUTWA (Ivory Coast) — Archbishop Emeritus of Abidjan; born 22 December 1945 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Ignace BESSI DOGBO (Ivory Coast) — Archbishop of Abidjan; born 17 August 1961 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Nakellentuba Philippe OUÉDRAOGO (Burkina Faso) — Archbishop Emeritus of Ouagadougou; born 31 December 1945 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Peter Ebere OKPALEKE (Nigeria) — Bishop of Ekwulobia; born 1 March 1963 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Robert SARAH (Guinea) — Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; born 15 June 1945 (Vatican Press)
Central Africa
- Cardinal Dieudonné NZAPALAINGA (Central African Republic) — Archbishop of Bangui; born 14 March 1967 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Fridolin AMBONGO BESUNGU, O.F.M. Cap. (Democratic Republic of the Congo) — Archbishop of Kinshasa; born 24 January 1960 (Vatican Press)
East Africa
- Cardinal John NJUE (Kenya) — Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi; born 1 January 1946 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew SOURAPHIEL, C.M. (Ethiopia) — Archbishop of Addis Ababa; born 14 July 1948 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Protase RUGAMBWA (Tanzania) — Archbishop of Tabora; born 31 May 1960 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin MULLA (South Sudan) — Archbishop of Juba; born 10 January 1964 (Vatican News)
Southern Africa
- Cardinal Stephen BRISLIN (South Africa) — Archbishop of Cape Town; born 24 September 1956 (Vatican Press)
Island Africa
- Cardinal Arlindo Gomes FURTADO (Cape Verde) — Bishop of Santiago de Cabo Verde; born 15 November 1949 (Vatican Press)
- Cardinal Désiré TSARAHAZANA (Madagascar) — Archbishop Emeritus of Fianarantsoa; born 13 June 1954 (Vatican Press)
Together, these 18 cardinal electors span every region of Africa—North, West, Central, East, Southern, and the island nations—forming a historic and dynamic cohort. They represent the complete pool from which the Catholic Church could potentially elect the first African pope in nearly two thousand years.
Read also: Pope Francis Makes Strong Case For Peace In Africa
Breaking the Old Molds: The Vatican’s Moral Test
In 1978, the conclave broke centuries of Italian domination by electing a Pole, John Paul II. In 2013, it elected its first Latin American pope, Francis. Each time, the College of Cardinals recognized the need to reflect the universal Church, not merely its European center.
Today, the opportunity, and the moral obligation is clear: the next pope must reflect the Church’s African future.
Conclave politics are real. Regional blocs, theological alliances, and personal friendships shape outcomes. But African cardinals can, and must form alliances with counterparts from Latin America and Asia to forge a consensus.
Courage and vision, not outdated political calculus, must guide the decision.
Looking Ahead: Africa’s Mandate to Lead
The challenges facing the Catholic Church today—vocational shortages, secularization, ecological devastation, global inequality demand leadership forged in the crucible of lived struggle and hope.
Africa has not only survived these trials; it has thrived spiritually amidst them. This spiritual vitality must now guide the Church’s global renewal.
With African Catholics soon to be the plurality in global Catholicism, the era of viewing Africa as “mission territory” must end. It is time to recognize Africa as the mission’s heartbeat.
Conclusion: History’s Call to the Conclave
The Catholic Church stands at a historic crossroads. Electing an African pope would not be an act of tokenism; it would be a bold affirmation of reality, faith, and justice.
It would honor the deep theological, historical, and demographic contributions Africa has made to Catholicism. It would energize the world’s fastest-growing Catholic population. And it would offer the universal Church a model of resilience, fidelity, and missionary dynamism desperately needed for the road ahead.
The time is now. Africa must lead.
References
Associated Press, 2024. African Catholic Population Growth Under Pope Francis. Associated Press, [online] Available at: https://apnews.com [Accessed 27 April 2025].
Catholic News Agency, 2024. Africa’s Catholic Population Surges to 281 Million. Catholic News Agency, [online] Available at: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com [Accessed 27 April 2025].
Pontifical Yearbook, 2025. Annuario Pontificio 2025: Statistical Data on the Catholic Church. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Pew Research Center, 2013. Mass Attendance in Western Europe. Pew Research Center, [online] Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/ [Accessed 27 April 2025].
The Pillar, 2024. Projections for the Catholic Church: 2050 Outlook. The Pillar, [online] Available at: https://www.pillarcatholic.com [Accessed 27 April 2025].
Vatican Press, 2025. Profiles of African Cardinals. Vatican Press, [online] Available at: https://www.vatican.va [Accessed 27 April 2025].
Vatican News, 2025. Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla Biography. Vatican News, [online] Available at: https://www.vaticannews.va/en.html [Accessed 27 April 2025].