In the past decade, memecoins have emerged from being everyday internet humor to a multi-billion-dollar niche sector in the crypto industry.
Memecoins have been at the center of debate for quite some time; some hate them, calling them worthless, while others hail them as mainstream cryptocurrencies. Love them or hate them, you cannot simply ignore memecoins. Don’t trust us? Ask the U.S. President Donald Trump himself, who launched his memecoin just a day before his official oath-taking ceremony.
Now, after being at the center of controversies, memecoins have turned holy! The crypto community is now using memecoins to vote on who the next pope will be after the demise of Pope Francis.
Crypto enthusiasts are creating meme tokens based on potential papal successors, church memes, and some Vatican references.
The Passing of the Pope
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis became the 266th pope on March 13, 2013. Commitment to social justice, interfaith communication, environmental conservation, and church reform defined him.
Since the eighth-century Syrian pope Gregory III, he was the first born or raised outside of Europe, the first Latin American, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope from the Society of Jesus.
At 88 years old, Pope Francis passed away at his Vatican Casa Santa Marta on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025.
The Process of Papal Succession
In either case of the death or resignation of the Pope, the Apostolic See becomes vacant, and preparations begin to elect a new pope.
The next pope is elected by the College of Cardinals, which includes all cardinals under age 80, and they gather in Rome, usually at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
The cardinals, who hold up to four voting rounds daily and are cut off from the outer world, need a two-thirds majority to choose a new pope. Once someone is chosen, he is asked whether he accepts the position and chooses a papal name; white smoke then emanates from the chapel’s chimney to indicate to the world that “Habemus Papam,” which means “We have a Pope.”
Memecoins & the Speculation
The crypto community is empowered to turn even pivotal and sacred things into memes.
According to PolyMarket, a US-based online crypto-based betting site, almost 30% of users voted for the Pietro Parolin coin. Luis Antonio Tagle and Matteo Zuppi followed with 22.9% and 12.3% of the votes, respectively.
The two trending memecoins, POPE Coin & LUCE Coin, have surged by 770% & 134%, respectively. LUCE reached a high of $0.02517 before settling at around $0.015. On the other hand, POPE reached a market cap of $260,930, according to CoinMarketCap.
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