As they shaped the Catholic Church during the Roman Empire star-news.press/wp

It is now predominantly Muslim, North Africa used to be Christian hearts, producing Catholic Paps who have left the characteristics on the church to date.

Their documents were in the era of the Roman Empire, which stretched through modern tunisia, northeast of Algeria and the coast of the Western Libya.

“North Africa was a biblical belt of ancient Christianity,” says Prof Christopher Bellitto, historian at Kean University in the United States.

Many Catholics in Africa hope that the papacy will return to the continent for the first time in more than 1,500 years, as the heir to Pope Francis.

Here we look at the three previous African Papa – and how they got Christians to celebrate Easter Sunday and the Holy Valentine Day.

All three were recognized as saints in the church.

He thought the Berber Origin, Pope Victor, was in charge of the Catholic Church at a time when Christians sometimes persecuted Roman officials for refusing to worship Roman gods.

Maybe he is best known for ensuring Christians celebrate Easter on Sunday.

At 2. The century of a Christian group from the Roman Province of Asia (in Modern Turkey) celebrated the same day that Jews celebrated the Passover, which could fall on different days of the week.

However, Christians in the western part of the Empire believed that Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, so Easter should always be celebrated on that day.

Discussion on when resurrection occurred, it made him an extremely controversial problem.

“Easter controversy” was a symbolism of larger conflicts between east and west, and would Christians or should not follow Jewish practices.

I called Victor the first Roman Synod – the gathering of church leaders – to solve our inspections.

He did this to excommunicate from the church of those bishops that refused to respect his wishes.

“He was a pretty strong voice for all literally the purpose of the page,” Prof. Belto told BBC.

This was an impressive feat, a historian said, because “was the bishop of Rome when Christianity was illegally in the Roman Empire.”

Another important part of the winner heritage was the introduction of Latin as a joint language of the Catholic Church. Earlier, old Greek was the primary language of the Catholic Liturgy, as well as official communication for the church.

Victor and I wrote in – and spoke – Latino, who was widely spoke in northern Africa.

The pope of thought is thought to be born in Africa.

During his rule, Christianity gained increasing acceptance from consecutive Roman emperors, in the end, becoming an official religion of the Empire.

Prior to that, the persecution of Christians was widespread in different points in the history of the Empire.

However, Prof. Bellitto pointed out that the militia was not responsible for this change, saying that the Pope was a “recipient of Roman benevolence”, and not that it is a great negotiator.

Militiades received the Palace of the Roman Emperor Constantine, becoming the first pope for the official residence.

It was also approved by the permission of Constantine to build a Lateran Basilica, now the oldest public church in Rome.

While modern paps live and work in the Vatican, the Catholicism is sometimes called Catholicism as “mother of all churches”.

Gelasius and is the only one of the three African Paps who believe the historians were not born in Africa.

“There is a reference to be … Romanski born. So we don’t know if he (ever) lived in North Africa, but it seems clear that he was North African origin,” Prof. Bellitto explained.

He was the most important of the three leaders of the African Church, according to Prof. Bellitt.

Gelasius and is widely recognized as the first pope to be officially called “Vicar Christ”, an expression denoting the role of Pope as the representative of the country.

He also developed the doctrine of the two swords, which emphasized separate but the same authority of the church and the state.

Gelasius I made the critical distinction that both authorizations were given to the Church God, who then delegated the Earth power to the state, making the church at the end of the superior.

“Later, in the Middle Ages, the pope sometimes tried to veto the choice of emperor or king, because they said God gave them that power,” said Prof. Bellitto.

Gelasius and I remember, for his response to Acacian Healings – divisions between Eastern and Western Christian churches from 484 to 519.

During that period, Gelasius claimed the supremacy of Rome and the papacy over the entire church, east and west, who went further than any of his predecessors.

Gelasius is also responsible for the popular celebration that is still marked each year – the establishment of the Holy Valentine Day 14. February 496. years in memory of Christian Martyr St Valentine.

Some accounts say Valentine was a priest who continued to do the wedding in secret when their car Claudius II was prohibited.

Historians believe that Valentine’s Day is rooted at the Roman Festival of Love and Fertility, Lupercalia, and the move was Gelasius and Christianise Pagan tradition.

Prof Bellitto says there is no way to know yourself with any degree of accuracy that looked like three zones.

“We need to remember that the Roman Empire, and the Middle Ages did not think of a race as we think today. It did not have anything to do with the color of the skin,” he said for the skin.

“People in the Roman Empire did not deal with the race, they were engaged in ethnicity.”

Prof. Philomena Mwaura, academician at Kenitta Kenitta, said the BBC that Roman Africa was very multicultural, with local barber and numbers, released and people who came out there from Rome.

“The northern African community was quite mixed, and it was a trade route and for many people involved in the trade in Ranije Antiqua,” she explained.

Instead of identifying with specific ethnic groups, “most people who belonged to areas within the Roman Empire were considered Roman,” prof.

None of the 217 papes from the gelazio believed to believe to come from Africa.

“The church in northern Africa weakened very much forces, including the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as intrusion of Muslims (in North Africa) in the 7th century,” said prof.

However, some experts claim that the prevalence of Islam in northern Africa does not explain the absence of the Pope from the entire continent in more than 1500 years.

Prof. Bellitto said that the selection process of the new Pontiff became “Italian monopoly” for many years.

However, he said that there was a strong chance for the Pope from Asia or Africa in the near future, because Catholics in the southern hemisphere surpasses those in the north.

In fact, Catholicism is expanding faster today in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else.

The latest personalities show that there were 281 million Catholics in Africa in Africa. This makes up 20% of the world’s steel.

Three Africans are in the Race for Success Pope Francis – Democratic Republic of the Congo Friedolin Ambong Besung, Ghana Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson and Guinea Robert Sarah.

But prof. Mwaura claimed that “although Christianity was very strong in Africa, the power of the church is still in the north, where the resources were”.

“Maybe, as he continues to be very strong inside the continent and supporting himself, then the time will come when there could be an African Pope,” she said.