Collect Popes Born Outside Europe Quiz

Answer:

Saint Peter is traditionally listed as the first Pope. He was born in Bethsaida, nowadays Syria (but occupied by Israel). Peter was born as Simon and was a fisher on the Sea of Galilee, but was called by Jesus Christ as one of his disciples. Jesus renamed Simon Peter ("the Rock") and appointed him as the first to follow Him as leader of the early church. Peter's pontificate started about 30 and ended in 64.

Saint Evaristus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine. He was the fifth Pope, from about 97 until about 105. He decreed that any catholic marriage should be concluded before a priest.

The eleventh Pope, Saint Anicetus, was born in Syria, in the town then called Emesa and nowadays known as Homs. He was Pope from about 155 until 167. Anicetus has gained fame as an opponent of Gnosticism, a conglomerate of sects whose beliefs have been declared heretical by the Catholic Church.

The first Pope born in Africa was Victor I, whose pontificate lasted from 189 to probably 199. He was the 14th Pope. Alas, his birthplace was not a known settlement - it was somewhere on the northwest of Africa. Victor I is best remembered for fixing the date of Easter on a Sunday.

Then we jump to the 32nd Pope: Miltiades, also born somewhere in the northwest of Africa. Miltiades was Pope between 311 and 314. During his pontificate, Emperor Constantine signed the Edict of Milan, which granted Christians freedom of religion within the Roman Empire.

The 49th Pope was Gelasius I, born on the slopes of Mons Feratus (nowadays Djurdjura Range in Algeria). He was Pope from 492 to 496 and wrote on many theological issues, mostly about the dual nature of Christ (who had both human and divine traits, according to this theory). This contributed to the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

John V was the 82nd Pope, between 685 and 686. He was born in Antioch, Syria (nowadays Antakya, Turkey). His major effort was to start reconciliation between the two major branches of Christianity that existed in his time (Catholic and Orthodox).

The 87th Pope, Sisinnius, was born in Syria, in the Rashidun Caliphate. He was Pope for only twenty days in 708, when he died of old age.

His successor, Constantine (Pope from 708 until 715), was born in Tyre, a port city nowadays in Lebanon. During his pontificate, Constantine conferred with the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople.

St. Gregory III was the 90th Pope, from 731 to 741. He was born somewhere in Syria. Gregory II strongly condemned iconoclasm, the destruction of religious icons and symbols.

These three Popes (Sisinnius, Constantine and Gregory III) were the first to hail from a country that then had a Muslim majority.

And then we jump several centuries to the 266th Pope. Pope Francis, who reigned between 2013 and 2025, was born in Buenos Aires, the first Pope from the Americas.

Pope Francis was succeeded in 2025 by Pope Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago in the USA - the first Pope from North-America.

Both Francis and Leo XIV had as one of their main goals to try to reconcile the Roman Catholic Church with other denominations of Christianity, and if possible also with Judaism and Islam (the two other main monotheistic religions that share a number of prophets such as Abraham, Moses and Isaiah).