As they formed the Catholic Church during the Roman Empire

Now North Africa, which was mostly Muslim, was once a Christian heart, producing Catholic popes who left their mark in the church to this day.

Their papers were in the era of the Roman Empire, which stretched through modern Tunisia, in the northeast of Algeria and the coast of Western Libya.

“North Africa was a biblical belt of ancient Christianity,” says Professor Christopher Belita, a historian of the University of the United States.

Many Catholics in Africa hope the papacy will return to the continent for the first time in more than 1500 years as the successor of Pope Francis is chosen.

Here we look at the three previous African popes – and how they forced Christians to celebrate Easter Sunday and Valentine’s Day.

All three were recognized as saints in the church.

I believed that from Berber descent, Pope Victor, I was ruled by the Catholic Church at a time when Roman officials sometimes persecuted Christians for refusing to worship the Roman gods.

It is perhaps the most famous for Christians celebrating Easter on Sunday.

In the 2nd century, some Christian groups from the Roman province of Asia (in modern Turkey) celebrated Easter on the same day when Jews celebrated Easter, which could fall on different days of the week.

However, Christians in the western part of the empire believed that Jesus was risen on Sunday, so Easter should always celebrate this day.

The discussion on when the resurrection happened, made it an extremely controversial issue.

“Easter disputes” was symbolic of great conflicts between East and West, and whether Christians should follow Jewish practice.

Victor I called the very first Roman synod – a meeting of church leaders – to solve a deadlock.

He did it, threatening to separate from the church those bishops who refused to fulfill his wishes.

“He was a pretty strong voice because everything on the same page is literally,” Professor Belita said at the BBC.

The historian said it was an impressive feat because “he was a bishop of Rome when Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire.”

Another important part of Victor I was the introduction of the Latin language as a common language of the Catholic Church. Previously, the ancient Greek was the main language of the Catholic liturgy, as well as the official communication for the Church.

Victor I wrote myself – and spoke – Latin, which was spoken widely in North Africa.

It is believed that Pope Militades was born in Africa.

During its domination, Christianity acquired the increasing adoption from consistent Roman emperors, as a result, became the official religion of the empire.

Before that, the persecution of Christians was widespread at different moments of the history of the empire.

However, Professor Belita noted that the police were not responsible for these changes, saying that the Pope was a “recipient of Roman benevolence” and was not a great negotiator.

Militiades was given to the palace of the Roman emperor Constantine, becoming the first Pope who spent his official residence.

Konstantin also received permission for the construction of the Lateran Basilica, now the oldest public church in Rome.

While modern popes live and work in the Vatican, the Lateran Church is sometimes called “mother of all churches” in Catholicism.

Gelasia I is the only of the three African popes that historians believe were not born in Africa.

“There is a reference to what he is … Roman, who was born. So we don’t know if he lived (ever) in North Africa, but it seems clear that he is from North African descent,” Professor Belita explained.

According to Professor Belita.

Gelasia and widely recognized by the first Pope, who is officially called the “vicar of Christ”, a term meaning the role of Pope Christ on earth.

He also developed a doctrine of two goals that emphasized individual but equal powers of the church and the state.

Gelasia I made a critical difference that both powers were handed over to the Church by God, which then delegated the earthly power to the state, making the church ultimately exceeding.

“Later, in the Middle Ages, the Pope sometimes tried to veto the emperor or the king because they said that God had given them this power,” Professor Belita said.

I also remember Gelasia for the answer to the Akhatk split – a split between the Eastern and Western Christian churches from 484 to 519.

During this period, I argued that the rule of Rome and the papacy across the Church, East and West, which experts have moved on than any of its predecessors.

Gelasia is also responsible for the popular celebration, which is still celebrated every year – the creation of Valentine’s Day on February 14 in 496 to celebrate the Christian martyr of Valentine.

Some accounts say Valentin was a priest who continued to hold weddings when Emperor Claudius II banned.

Historians believe that Valentine’s Day is introduced at the Roman festival of love and birth, Luperkali, and was the move of Gelasia and the pagan traditions in Christ.

Professor Belita says that there is no way to find out what a degree of accuracy, how three pope looked like.

“We must remember that the Roman Empire did not really think about races as we think about it now. It has nothing to do with skin color,” he said BBC.

“People in the Roman Empire did not engage in race, they dealt with ethnicity.”

Professor Filomena Mwaura, an academician from Kenya in Kenya, said the BBC that Roman Africa was very multicultural, with local Berber and pnic groups, freed by slaves and people who left Rome.

“The North African community was quite ambiguous, and it was a trade route for many people who participated in trade in the previous antiquity,” she explained.

Instead of identifying themselves with specific ethnic groups, “most people who belonged to the areas in the Roman Empire considered themselves Roman,” added Professor Mvaura.

None of the 217 popes, because, according to Gelasia, I am considered Africa.

“The Church in North Africa was weakened by many forces, including the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as the invasion of Muslims (in North Africa) in the 7th century,” said Professor Mvaura.

However, some experts claim that the prevalence of Islam in North Africa does not explain the lack of a pope from the entire continent for more than 1500 years.

Professor Belita said the process of choosing a new pontiff for many years has become an “Italian monopoly”.

However, he said that there is a high probability of Pope from Asia or Africa in the near future because Catholics in the South Hemisphere exceed the number in the north.

In fact, Catholicism is expanding more quickly in Africa south than somewhere else.

Recent data shows that there were 281 million Catholics in Africa in 2023. This is 20% of the World Congregation.

Three Africans are in the race to reach Pope Francis, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fridolin Ambongo Buyunga, Peter the Aps of Turks and Robert Sari Guinea.

But Professor Mvaura claimed that “although Christianity is very strong in Africa, the church power is still in the north where the resources were.”

“Perhaps because it still remains very strong on the continent and supports itself, then the time will come when the African pope may be,” she said.