With the weekend’s television coverage showing mostly people of European descent mourning the death of Pope John Paul II, what might be lost is the effect the pope’s passing will have on more than 200 million black Catholics worldwide, including the nearly three million residing in the United States.

“Those who might want to believe that [Catholicism] is mainly for Europeans are mistaken,” Dr. Kimberly Flint-Hamilton told BlackAmericaWeb.com Saturday, hours after learning of the pope’s passing. A professor of sociology and anthropology at Stetson University in Deland, Fla., Flint-Hamilton is a member of St. Hubert of the Forrest in nearby Astor. Last fall, she was the associate convener of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium’s annual meeting at Xavier University in New Orleans.

The loss of the pope, Flint-Hamilton said, will bring on a difficult period of mourning for all Catholics, including those of African descent, a group she said is rapidly growing.

“We all knew [his death] was inevitable,” Flint-Hamilton said. “But right now, we need to trust in God, maintain our faith, and pray for leadership and guidance. We just need to be attentive to the word of God.

“Anytime we lose a leader, it’s going to be difficult,” Flint-Hamilton added, looking ahead to the days, and possibly weeks, until a successor is chosen. “This will be difficult on our practice and our spirit because we’ve lost our spiritual guide.”

The new spiritual guide of the Catholic Church could come from Africa. Several media outlets are reporting that Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze is a likely successor to Pope John Paul II. The increasing presence of the church in Africa, as well as Arinze’s close friendship with Pope John Paul II, makes him a strong contender. He will be one of the 117 cardinals participating in the upcoming conclave at the Vatican to elect a new pope.

Flint-Hamilton said Arinze is a good leader whose views are well known by many Catholics throughout the world. If elected, Arinze’s papacy could help the church reach out to even more people of color, she said.

“It’s possible that, especially in America, people may look at a pope of color as a sign that the church is more accepting,” Flint-Hamilton said. “However, the pope is a spiritual leader at the least, in theory and practice. It doesn’t really matter at all who the person is or what he looks like.”

“What matters,” she continued, “is the way he interprets literature, the word of God and the needs of the Catholic community.”

Arinze, who has headed the Vatican’s office of inter-religious affairs since 1985, could become the first pope from Africa in more than 1,500 years. The last was Pope Gelasius I, who led the church from 492 to 496.
Born in 1932 into Nigeria's Ibo tribe, Cardinal Arinze was baptized a Catholic at age nine and entered the seminary at age 13. He was ordained a priest in 1958, a bishop in 1965 and a cardinal in 1985. He has traveled extensively for the church over the years, speaking at numerous college commencements and other events in the U.S. It was during a 2003 address at Georgetown University that Arinze reportedly ruffled some feathers with his pro-life, pro-family remarks.

Flint-Hamilton considers Arinze a “dynamic and charismatic speaker” that is very much in tune with how Pope John Paul II wanted the church to be.
Dr. Jean Carter, a representative of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, said she didn’t want to speculate on Arinze’s possible election to the papacy. Like Flint-Hamilton, Carter said she isn’t overly concerned about whether the new pope is the same race as she is. This period of mourning and the process of selecting a new pope, Carter said, could however inspire non-practicing black Catholics to recapture their faith.

“Many of them have strayed away. This may be a good call for them to come back,” said Carter, a former theology professor at Prairie View A&M University. She now works with the Sisters of the Holy Family, a ministry founded by Mother Henriette Delille in 1842 to educate children of slaves. Today, the Sisters of the Holy Family serve the poor and provide religious education, health services and care for the elderly.

Carter said she was deeply saddened by Pope John Paul II’s death, a feeling she believes many black Catholics share with her at this time.

“He has been a glorious figure all along, a truly holy man,” said Carter, fondly recalling the wave of emotions that ran through her when she touched the pope’s hand during a trip to Rome in 2000.

“As deeply as [white Catholics] are feeling his death, we are feeling it, too,” Carter said of black Catholics. “He has returned to the Father. We know he is safe from everything now.”

Whoever is tapped to be Pope John Paul II’s successor, he will undoubtedly have a hard act to follow, Flint-Hamilton said.

“It’s going to be tough to fill John Paul II’s shoes. He was so well loved, not just by Catholics in Italy,” she said. “He perennially opened doors and dialogues, not just among Catholics, but people of other faiths.

“Pope John Paul II was a great role model, even though we all have our own particular styles,” Flint-Hamilton added. “If the next pope allows himself to learn from [John Paul’s] example, he may become the model papacy for generations to come.”