re: What are you giving up for Lent?

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Very soon we'll have a black Pope, the first black Pope in over 1,500 years!

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There is actually no historical proof that there was ever a black pope. The best we have is the three known popes from northern Africa, all of which were almost certainly Arabic and not "black". The problem is compounded by the fact that the concept of "black", and race in general, didnt exist for another 1,000 years.

Nobody really knows much about the race of many historical figures prior to the mid-1400s because people often didnt write about skin color. Many people actually believe that Augustine was black, though all historians dispute that.