Pope Leo XIV's grandparents were listed as "Black" in the 1900 census. The Vatican chose to only highlight his European ancestry in their official announcement.
The fact that he has Black heritage from a country where one drop of Black blood historically made you Black—that matters. Now, it doesn’t change a single thing about the Catholic Church’s colonialist, racist, and oppressive ways. However, it is a bit of a poke in the eye to the United States.
And in point of fact, there were three Black popes in antiquity. They were Roman citizens, but they were African popes. So, he wouldn’t be the first Black pope—but he would be the first in modern times with real Black blood, such as it were.
The construct of race has only mattered because white people made it matter. They forced it on us, they gave it to us, and they constricted it around us. But when we say, “Hey, we’re present,” suddenly it doesn’t matter.
True, but if it weren’t for the one-drop rule in the US, Black Americans wouldn’t exist now. All the lighter skinned and mixed would have claimed white heritage.
The pope’s family, obviously mixed out and aren’t culturally Black either.
YES!! I wrote about that in my book!! I SO appreciate you seeing and saying that. What was meant to harm us became our strength or else we'd be Brazil or South Africa
Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work is a book I wrote because, as a consultant working in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space, I was hearing a lot of pain, especially from Black women, Black men, and other people of color. They were sharing stories of suffering in the workplace that sounded eerily similar. The same kind of negative feedback, the same resistance, the same doubts cast on their abilities and competence. I began to notice a pattern..not just in their experiences, but in my own, and in the experiences of so many other Black professionals I knew.
What struck me was that when most people wrote about these issues, they either skimmed the surface or focused solely on their personal journeys. But something deeper was missing. I wanted to go further. I wanted to name the pattern, analyze it, and expose how deeply entrenched it really is. That’s how Qualified came to be.
Yes, that's why I think mixed race (some) get so crazy angry clamoring on about the "one drop rule" whenever someone calls them "Black" or calls out theirs or someone else's African ancestry.
African doesn't mean black bro stop using the American low education understanding of things. North Africa was littered with Roman colonies. You need to seriously learn what a provencisl colony was. You dkt call a British guy born in India during the 1800s an Indian.
This is the American misunderstanding of things cause the liberals wanted to change it from colored to "African-American". Now you have generations who think Africa=black. Omg man come on to any student of history and people this is so "chip on the shoulder american it's not funny".
Also whoever taught you all history needs to be fired. The immigration and census people would classifiy Italians mixed all the time. Stop pretending they had knowledge of genetics or cared about them. They didn't they just wrote down what they could see.
This is how you get people claiming Hannibal or Cleopatra is black. Enough of it, this man just threw the popes bloodline under the bus like he did something. Hati doesn't mean black either, you need to stop the presentism.
I am shocked this guy actually did this and created this much trouble for the church cause he doesn't understand the time period.
But African Pope bro omg north Africa isn't black stop using exceptions of today cause of the trans Saharan slave trade to claim this stuff. It's getting very old. The world is sick and tired of dealing with Americans ignornat children
Also talk about low information I'm not interested in what happened in the 1800s I'm talking about Antiquity I'm talking about the fact that Rome and Greece were large portions of an Empire that did not use the racist standards that we use today. The statues we see were painted and covered to represent all kinds of people. What you actually are trying to do is erase Blackness from the continent from which it sprang.
The African continent the home of civilization is the home of dark-skinned people. People whose skin is not white whose hair is not blonde. This fact has been hidden in history because there was no credit wanting to be given for those who were not blonde and white skinned and consequently this confusion about what Africa look like and pretending that the portion of Africa where actual dark skin is is very tiny and it never left its area and had no impact on Western culture is a racist lie. But race is not real it is in fact a social construct but the stealing of history from brown and dark skin people well that is real
Speaking of hidden histories, I would not have thought there were that many Black nuns in the whole country. It's just one more of the millions of ways, large and small, that we white people have been raised for generations to literally not see you.
Those women would make a heck of a research project in their own right.
There's an excellent book about this very topic called Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle, by Shannen Dee Williams.
Yes. Thank you for this revelation. It makes the new pope that much more interesting and relevant n today’s chaotic world. I’m not Catholic but I find all religions fascinating, and you have certainly provided some historical context and all of your writing/articles have prompted me to explore your subject matter more thoroughly. I have been following your writing and have subscribed to your Substack and right now I’m away from my computer but as soon as I get home I’ll definitely become a paid subscriber! You certainly go the extra mile in your reporting. It’s important to you so it’s important to me even though I’m white. We cannot let black history, our shared history, American history, be lost because of a few mean spirited and evil people.
I believe there were actually two (2) African popes centuries ago when priests could marry and have families. I did a research paper in college called African and African American Religion and Spirituality. Through that research is where I found out about the African popes.
There were three black African popes in antiquity. They were Roman citizens and in Rome the concept of race the way we think of it today had not taken hold.
Another great article! Keep up your quest for truth. The US government has used racial identification ( as you aptly describe regarding the Creoles) as a carrot to immigrants desiring a move up the “ladder”. Many southern Italians, especially Sicilians, were, until WW II, labeled as dark/black. The Change in “status “ to white was done to secure Italian immigrants fighting on the Allies side. Columbus Day was declared a national holiday in 1937 after Italian Americans intensive lobbying. It’s no coincidence it coincided with the advent of WW II. Felon 45+ using Columbus Day again as a carrot is another xenophobic tool to further divide us. Keep writing!!! And many thanks.
Excellent piece! New Orleans has such rich history. It is America’s old world. Fascinating history and deep traditions that are still carried on today. Thank you for capturing this part of history.
My Grandfather did this with our Ojibwe Heritage; always said we were from the darker French. Our family didn’t uncover the link until I was 40 years old. I’m glad that there’s plenty of Ojibwe knowledge available still: https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/
Zhawenim Miziwekameg
He even did direct action work during the days where a majority of schools forbade native languages; at his schools—he allowed them. He was also capable of being a relay during WWII on a small Pacific Island getting bombed routinely while translating Code Talker messages and relaying those messages—all while never divulging his Ojibwe Heritage
I hope someone can help me understand. Maybe I'm oversimplifying it?
I don't like that we continue to have to identity ourselves on US government forms by the color of our skin; thereby, giving insecure people the excuse they need to mistreat us in order for them to feeI superior.
Isn't our race the Human Race and the rest of our identifiers 1: our nationality and 2: our ancestor's ethnicities.
Having to be a willing participant in the caste system makes me feel dirty.
What I like to say is race is a fiction but the impact is real. So at this point if we just stop and don't use white and black anymore and pretend there are no structures built up around race we only disadvantage those already disadvantaged which would be non-white people. The way we get to a time where we get rid of the constructive race that was forced on all of us by white people is by acknowledging the ways in which race operates fundamentally unfairly and work to dismantle that at that point then we have an operating system that if not totally fair is closer to fair and then we can take off the garments but until then color blind attempts only end up being blindingly White
I honestly thought we were moving in that direction, but here we are. Every slow, tiny step we took towards 'all men are created equal' almost completely erased.
I learn so much from your posts. They provide depth, context and facilitate understanding of the deliberately hidden connections within our tapestry of human existence.
The fact that he has Black heritage from a country where one drop of Black blood historically made you Black—that matters. Now, it doesn’t change a single thing about the Catholic Church’s colonialist, racist, and oppressive ways. However, it is a bit of a poke in the eye to the United States.
And in point of fact, there were three Black popes in antiquity. They were Roman citizens, but they were African popes. So, he wouldn’t be the first Black pope—but he would be the first in modern times with real Black blood, such as it were.
The construct of race has only mattered because white people made it matter. They forced it on us, they gave it to us, and they constricted it around us. But when we say, “Hey, we’re present,” suddenly it doesn’t matter.
True, but if it weren’t for the one-drop rule in the US, Black Americans wouldn’t exist now. All the lighter skinned and mixed would have claimed white heritage.
The pope’s family, obviously mixed out and aren’t culturally Black either.
YES!! I wrote about that in my book!! I SO appreciate you seeing and saying that. What was meant to harm us became our strength or else we'd be Brazil or South Africa
And what’s the name of your book? What motivated you to write it?
Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work is a book I wrote because, as a consultant working in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space, I was hearing a lot of pain, especially from Black women, Black men, and other people of color. They were sharing stories of suffering in the workplace that sounded eerily similar. The same kind of negative feedback, the same resistance, the same doubts cast on their abilities and competence. I began to notice a pattern..not just in their experiences, but in my own, and in the experiences of so many other Black professionals I knew.
What struck me was that when most people wrote about these issues, they either skimmed the surface or focused solely on their personal journeys. But something deeper was missing. I wanted to go further. I wanted to name the pattern, analyze it, and expose how deeply entrenched it really is. That’s how Qualified came to be.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/competency-checking-shari-dunn/20858296?ean=9780063354067&next=t
FYI - Shared your thoughts and book on a facebook post -- https://www.facebook.com/cgrock24/posts/10239661992034875
Thank you so much!
Thank you for sharing. I’m hoping to read it and spread the word. Thank you for all your hard work! Love and Peace.
Yes, that's why I think mixed race (some) get so crazy angry clamoring on about the "one drop rule" whenever someone calls them "Black" or calls out theirs or someone else's African ancestry.
Interesting though that the pope looks just like like his creole great grandmother.
African doesn't mean black bro stop using the American low education understanding of things. North Africa was littered with Roman colonies. You need to seriously learn what a provencisl colony was. You dkt call a British guy born in India during the 1800s an Indian.
This is the American misunderstanding of things cause the liberals wanted to change it from colored to "African-American". Now you have generations who think Africa=black. Omg man come on to any student of history and people this is so "chip on the shoulder american it's not funny".
Also whoever taught you all history needs to be fired. The immigration and census people would classifiy Italians mixed all the time. Stop pretending they had knowledge of genetics or cared about them. They didn't they just wrote down what they could see.
This is how you get people claiming Hannibal or Cleopatra is black. Enough of it, this man just threw the popes bloodline under the bus like he did something. Hati doesn't mean black either, you need to stop the presentism.
I am shocked this guy actually did this and created this much trouble for the church cause he doesn't understand the time period.
But African Pope bro omg north Africa isn't black stop using exceptions of today cause of the trans Saharan slave trade to claim this stuff. It's getting very old. The world is sick and tired of dealing with Americans ignornat children
Also talk about low information I'm not interested in what happened in the 1800s I'm talking about Antiquity I'm talking about the fact that Rome and Greece were large portions of an Empire that did not use the racist standards that we use today. The statues we see were painted and covered to represent all kinds of people. What you actually are trying to do is erase Blackness from the continent from which it sprang.
The African continent the home of civilization is the home of dark-skinned people. People whose skin is not white whose hair is not blonde. This fact has been hidden in history because there was no credit wanting to be given for those who were not blonde and white skinned and consequently this confusion about what Africa look like and pretending that the portion of Africa where actual dark skin is is very tiny and it never left its area and had no impact on Western culture is a racist lie. But race is not real it is in fact a social construct but the stealing of history from brown and dark skin people well that is real
Speaking of hidden histories, I would not have thought there were that many Black nuns in the whole country. It's just one more of the millions of ways, large and small, that we white people have been raised for generations to literally not see you.
Those women would make a heck of a research project in their own right.
There's an excellent book about this very topic called Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle, by Shannen Dee Williams.
Yes. Thank you for this revelation. It makes the new pope that much more interesting and relevant n today’s chaotic world. I’m not Catholic but I find all religions fascinating, and you have certainly provided some historical context and all of your writing/articles have prompted me to explore your subject matter more thoroughly. I have been following your writing and have subscribed to your Substack and right now I’m away from my computer but as soon as I get home I’ll definitely become a paid subscriber! You certainly go the extra mile in your reporting. It’s important to you so it’s important to me even though I’m white. We cannot let black history, our shared history, American history, be lost because of a few mean spirited and evil people.
Thank you so much!❤️
Excellent piece, Kahlil!
I believe there were actually two (2) African popes centuries ago when priests could marry and have families. I did a research paper in college called African and African American Religion and Spirituality. Through that research is where I found out about the African popes.
There were three black African popes in antiquity. They were Roman citizens and in Rome the concept of race the way we think of it today had not taken hold.
Another great article! Keep up your quest for truth. The US government has used racial identification ( as you aptly describe regarding the Creoles) as a carrot to immigrants desiring a move up the “ladder”. Many southern Italians, especially Sicilians, were, until WW II, labeled as dark/black. The Change in “status “ to white was done to secure Italian immigrants fighting on the Allies side. Columbus Day was declared a national holiday in 1937 after Italian Americans intensive lobbying. It’s no coincidence it coincided with the advent of WW II. Felon 45+ using Columbus Day again as a carrot is another xenophobic tool to further divide us. Keep writing!!! And many thanks.
Awesome reading thank you so much I’m learning so much from you. You’re a smart young man thank you for all your hard work. 💯💯💯💯🙏🏾🙏🏾
So very interesting! Thank you for this important work, Kahlil.
A woke black pope, the catholic church really said fuck you donnie doodles
OMG! How very irrelevant
Excellent piece! New Orleans has such rich history. It is America’s old world. Fascinating history and deep traditions that are still carried on today. Thank you for capturing this part of history.
I’m impressed with your academic rigor and the fact you reference your sources. So many creators fail to do this.
My Grandfather did this with our Ojibwe Heritage; always said we were from the darker French. Our family didn’t uncover the link until I was 40 years old. I’m glad that there’s plenty of Ojibwe knowledge available still: https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/
Zhawenim Miziwekameg
He even did direct action work during the days where a majority of schools forbade native languages; at his schools—he allowed them. He was also capable of being a relay during WWII on a small Pacific Island getting bombed routinely while translating Code Talker messages and relaying those messages—all while never divulging his Ojibwe Heritage
Our DNA shows up even just a little bit. Look at his brothers! 😮
I hope someone can help me understand. Maybe I'm oversimplifying it?
I don't like that we continue to have to identity ourselves on US government forms by the color of our skin; thereby, giving insecure people the excuse they need to mistreat us in order for them to feeI superior.
Isn't our race the Human Race and the rest of our identifiers 1: our nationality and 2: our ancestor's ethnicities.
Having to be a willing participant in the caste system makes me feel dirty.
What I like to say is race is a fiction but the impact is real. So at this point if we just stop and don't use white and black anymore and pretend there are no structures built up around race we only disadvantage those already disadvantaged which would be non-white people. The way we get to a time where we get rid of the constructive race that was forced on all of us by white people is by acknowledging the ways in which race operates fundamentally unfairly and work to dismantle that at that point then we have an operating system that if not totally fair is closer to fair and then we can take off the garments but until then color blind attempts only end up being blindingly White
Thank you.
I honestly thought we were moving in that direction, but here we are. Every slow, tiny step we took towards 'all men are created equal' almost completely erased.
I learn so much from your posts. They provide depth, context and facilitate understanding of the deliberately hidden connections within our tapestry of human existence.