Black Pope

American  

noun

Archaic.

1. the head of the Jesuit order (so called from the power he once possessed and from the black habit worn by the order).

---

Etymology

Origin of Black Pope

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

Schoenenberger's departure grew directly out of a broader, long-brewing struggle between the rebellious young Jesuits in the Dutch church and Father Arrupe, the order's moderately progressive but increasingly worried "Black Pope."

From Time Magazine Archive

Pacho Herrera, believed to be the son of Benjamin Herrera Zuleta, an Afro-Colombian smuggler known as the "Black Pope," is a wealthy valley rancher with business interests in New York.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was time to elect a new "Black Pope."

From Time Magazine Archive

By the 18th century they had become so powerful that enemies referred to the superior general of the black-clad order as the "Black Pope."

From Time Magazine Archive

Dewson, Miss Mary, 189 Disease and its relation to crime, 8, 220 Don Bosco, the Black Pope, 157, 173 Drunkenness, temporary, 141.

From Criminal Man According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso by Lombroso, Gina