Were all the apostles, prophets, and popes of the past white people? Was black skin ever cursed?

Answer: No skin color has ever been cursed by God. All people are equal in His sight, and He shows no partiality based on race or ethnicity. As Acts 10:34-35 (ESV) declares:

So Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

It’s important to understand God’s plan as it unfolded through history. God chose Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) and blessed him and his descendants, not because of their appearance, but to accomplish His redemptive purpose. From Abraham came the nation of Israel, the people God worked through in the Old Covenant to reveal Himself and prepare the way for the Messiah.

The Israelites were not “white” in the sense of having very light skin like people from northern Europe. They were a Semitic people, with an appearance similar to that of modern Middle Eastern or Arab populations — as is still seen today. Their skin was certainly not as pale as Greeks or Romans, who lived near them. God’s choice of Israel was never about skin color, but about fulfilling His sovereign plan, as stated in Deuteronomy 7:7-8 (ESV):

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers.

Nowhere in Scripture do we find skin color — whether black or white — used as a reason for someone being chosen or rejected by God. Similarly, the idea that black skin was cursed is a distortion of Scripture. Some have wrongly pointed to the curse of Ham or Canaan in Genesis 9:25-27, but the curse was on Canaan’s descendants — not on any race or skin color. The Bible never links that curse to black people or Africa.

During the Old Testament period, God’s work was centered on Israel. That’s why you won’t find prophets from other nations — not because other people weren’t valuable to God, but because at that time His covenant and revelation were entrusted to Israel alone (see Psalm 147:19-20):

He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. Praise the Lord!

However, through Jesus Christ, God’s grace has been revealed to all nations. The dividing wall that once separated Jews and Gentiles has been broken down. Ephesians 2:13-16 (ESV) says:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility … that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

Today, God calls people from every nation, tribe, and language to serve Him (see Revelation 7:9):

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

Regarding the pope, we cannot place him in the same category as the apostles or prophets of Scripture. The office of the pope, as it exists today, is based on traditions and teachings that often do not align with the authority of Scripture. The true foundation of the Church is Jesus Christ Himself, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:11 (ESV):

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

The apostles and prophets of old were directly appointed and inspired by God to reveal His Word. The role of leadership in the Church today is to remain faithful to that Word, not to create new doctrines.

In conclusion:

There is no curse tied to skin color. God’s plan of salvation includes all people, and in Christ, all barriers have been removed. We are called to love one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord, without regard to race or ethnicity. As Galatians 3:28 (ESV) beautifully states: