Nazarena Vélez's reaction to the new election of Pope Leo XIV: 'I was scared'

The recent announcement from the Vatican shook the world, Robert Prevost, an American cardinal, was chosen as the new Supreme Pontiff under the name Leo XIV, just 17 days after the death of Pope Francis. The news did not go unnoticed in the television cycleLAM (Los Ángeles de la Mañana), where its panelists debated with surprise, concern, and even fear about the future of the papacy and the theories surrounding it.

During the program, Ángel de Brito opened the debate about the profile of the new Pope, while Marcela Feudale pointed out that "Francis had marked this man", alluding to a supposed continuity of the Argentine pope's legacy. She was also surprised by the continuity of religious leaders coming from America. "It was thought more of a man who would be from Africa or Filipino", she expressed.

However, it was Nazarena Vélez who caught the public's attention by confessing a very particular fear. The actress and panelist revealed that in the days leading up to the election of the new pontiff, she experienced moments of anxiety over the possibility that the chosen one would be the much-feared  "Black Pope", a figure mentioned in ancient apocalyptic prophecies.

"If he appeared, I was going to be scared. Many things were written. That if a Black Pope came, the world would end", commented Nazarena, visibly moved. The theory she refers to comes from the Prophecies of Saint Malachy, which many have interpreted as a prediction of the end times following the election of a Pope with different features or from Africa. "I was already obsessed with the Black Pope", she confessed.

Ángel de Brito, meanwhile, tried to bring calm to the debate with humor: "The prophecy. The world will end at some point". However, the topic left an unsettling feeling among those present.

Feudale clarified that, for some theorists, Pope Francis himself was the "Black Pope," due to his belonging to the Jesuit order, known as the "Society of Jesus," whose traditional uniform includes a black cassock. This interpretation would have "fulfilled" the prediction symbolically, although it was never confirmed by the Church.