# Black Pope=End Of The World? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999 "2005-04-06T04:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/21 "2013-03-14T03:00:50Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > My friend tells me that an Argentinian Pope portends that we will be forced to tango our way through the mass. Impossible. Jesus said, “Noli me tangere,” i.e., “Don’t tango with me!” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/22 "2013-03-14T03:23:36Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > My friend tells me that an Argentinian Pope portends that we will be forced to tango our way through the mass. What’s next -\* The Vatican Rag\*? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/23 "2013-03-14T04:16:10Z")
> [@DCon](#): > > Could Nostradamus have been simply referring to a Jesuit? > > The head of the Jesuits is called the Black Pope.. > > [Spaniard becomes Jesuits' new "black pope" | Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/19/us-religion-jesuits-idUSL1941405320080119) Good thing Bergoglio wasn’t the head of the Jesuits then, or else we’d all be apocalypsed on about now. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/24 "2013-03-14T04:26:44Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > What’s next -\* The Vatican Rag\*? Do whatever steps you want if you have cleared them with the pontiff. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/25 "2013-03-14T08:18:22Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Impossible. Jesus said, “Noli me tangere,” i.e., “Don’t tango with me!” I thought he said that he was knocked for a loop by by Noilly Prat. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/26 "2013-03-14T09:03:16Z")
So much for the pope, but do the cardinals also elect a new Bear in the Woods at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/27 "2013-03-14T12:39:59Z")
Did Jesus resurrect this thread like Lazarus? 😉 I know Jesus isn’t African and wasn’t the first pope, but according to the Bible, his parents did raise him in Egypt, so that certainly connects him to Africa, doesn’t it? Anyway, the answer is always the same. Anything can portend the end of the world to anyone who believes in portents. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/28 "2013-03-14T15:07:00Z")
My mum always insisted _(tongue firmly in cheek)_ that there was a prophecy that the last Pope would be black. I’m not sure which prophecy she’s referring to but I’m at home this weekend and will ask her if anyone is interested. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/29 "2013-03-14T15:10:50Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > My friend tells me that an Argentinian Pope portends that we will be forced to tango our way through the mass. > [@beowulff](#): > > What’s next -\* The Vatican Rag\*? If you bring back the flagellants then you can have masochism as well ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/30 "2013-03-14T15:11:12Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > So much for the pope, but do the cardinals also elect a new Bear in the Woods at the same time? Tremendous username/post combo there. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/31 "2013-03-14T17:05:09Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I know Jesus isn’t African and wasn’t the first pope, but according to the Bible, his parents did raise him in Egypt, so that certainly connects him to Africa, doesn’t it? I’ve always been under the impression that Jesus was raised in Galilee. Where does it say that he grew up in Egypt? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/32 "2013-03-14T17:07:59Z")
Matthew 2:13-15. [QUOTE=KJV] And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/33 "2013-03-14T17:24:41Z")
My understanding, perhaps poor, is that the whole first born killing and Jesus going to Egypt didn’t happen - at least according to Luke. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/34 "2013-03-14T18:21:21Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > My understanding, perhaps poor, is that the whole first born killing and Jesus going to Egypt didn’t happen - at least according to Luke. Matthew’s and Luke’s nativities accounts have contradictions with each other. Fundamentalists have to be rather creative to reconcile them. Non-fundamentalist believers recognize the nativity stories as a separate genre from the rest of the gospels. After all, who was privy to the Magi’s conversation with Herod and their subsequent message they received in a dream such that it could be recorded in the gospel? This is unlike the rest of the gospels where the gospel writers knew the people who witnessed the adult Jesus and heard their first-hand accounts. Add in the lack of corroborating evidence for the slaughter of the children of Jerusalem and the impossibility of the movement of the star, and you get a theological construction and not actual history. To non-fundamentalists, it’s clear that Matthew is presenting Jesus a the ‘New Moses’ and the story of going down into Egypt and the slaughter of infants are purposeful parallels to Moses’ life. So, most likely he was born and grew up in Galilee (an Aramaic and Greek cultural crossroads) and he and his family were in the habit of traveling to Jerusalem for the big feasts. It is unlikely he ever went to Egypt (sorry, Matthew) or ever spoke Latin (sorry, Mel). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999/35 "2013-03-14T19:04:45Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > If you bring back the flagellants then you can have masochism as well What “bring back”? Don’t come to Spain during Easter if you don’t want to run the risk of watching people carrying crosses, wearing crowns of thorns or flagellating themselves. It doesn’t happen in every _procesión_ - “only” in about half at a guess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-pope-end-of-the-world/297999.md?page=1)