Why Does A Black Man Appear On Popes Shield?
Saturday, November 21, 2009 Eliakim Pope Benedict XVI’s coat of arms (adopted from his archdiocese in Freising, Germany) features a very interesting and “controversial” image, the significance of which is lost on everybody, even Freising officials and the Pope himself. Amid the other heraldic symbols on the papal shield is the head of an Ethiopian king, known only as “the Moor of Freising” or Caput Aethiopum. But who is “the Moor of Freising”? The portrait is a caricature of an African male, with pronounced ruby-red lips which suggest the blackface makeup of the minstrel era. “It’s not good,” says Holy Cross professor of religious studies Matthew Schmalz, who has written about the crest for the Catholic magazine Commonweal. Whoever it is, the Pope has himself chosen to let the symbol serve as an expression of his commitment to the growth of Catholicism in Africa. Another Coat of Arms Rendering of the Moor of Freisling‘For me, [the African king] is an expression of the universality of t
