There are 67.2 million Catholics in the U.S., approximately 2 million of them African-Americans. Catholics make up 23 percent of the U.S. population. There are 8 million Catholics in the Dominican Republic and 6 million in Haiti, according to the Catholic Almanac.
Catholicism has exploded on the African continent, rising from 7 million in 1914 to 120 million in 2000. Over the next two years, Catholics in Africa are expected to outstrip the number in Europe.
According to the Catholic Almanac, there are approximately 200 million Catholics of African descent.
There are more English-speaking Catholics in Africa than in all other continents combined. The National Black Catholic Congress reports that there are 24.7 million Catholics in Zaire, 17 million in Nigeria, 12.8 million in Uganda, 11.6 million in Tanzania and 9 million in Kenya.
In addition to Arinze, another long-shot chance to become pope is Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of Durban, South Africa.
Many news outlets have reported incorrectly that if elected, Arinze or Napier would become the first Black pope. Actually,
it would be the fourth time a Black assumed the throne at the Vatican. The three earlier African popes, all of them now saints, were: Pope Saint Victor 1 (183-203 A.D.), Pope Saint Gelasius 1 (492-496 A.D.) and Pope Saint Miliades 1 (311-314 A.D.).
Some scholars are saying it is Latin America’s turn to have a pope. Almost half of the world’s Catholics – 46 percent – are in Latin America.
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