Ghost Reveals Papa V Perpetua as New Frontman for 2025 World Tour–Everything We Know So Far

Ah yes. Another day, another Papa. GHOST is back at it again boys, unveiling yet another masked frontman, I mean, why have just one identity when you can cycle through a whole liturgy of them? This time, we welcome Papa V Perpetua—who, surprise surprise, will be leading the band’s 2025 world tour and making a grand debut at (get this) Black Sabbath’s final-ever show on July 5, 2025, at Villa Park, Birmingham, UK. No pressure, right?

Who Is Papa V Perpetua? (And Do We Even Want to Know?)

Here’s the thing about GHOST. Their frontman, Tobias Forge, has a habit of cycling through creepy, pope-adjacent personas with all the dramatics of a Broadway play (but with more corpse paint). We’ve had Papa Emeritus I, II, III—and then there was Cardinal Copia, who, after some light cultish theatrics, leveled up to become Papa Emeritus IV for the Impera era.

Then, he was ceremoniously “retired” (i.e., fake-killed on stage) in 2023, yeah, that’s how GHOST rolls.

And now? Papa V Perpetua.

What do we know about him? Almost nothing. Forge is keeping it cryptic (shocking). But fans are already dissecting every pixel of promotional materials like it’s the Da Vinci Code, speculating that purple might be a thing this time. Color theory is a big deal in the GHOST universe.

Social Media Crypticness™ – “V Is Coming”

In classic GHOST fashion, the big reveal wasn’t, like, a press release. No, no. They dropped a tease on social media:

“We wish to inform you V is coming… To Birmingham on July 5th.”

That’s it. That’s the whole announcement.

So now, fans are left spiraling into theories. Will he wear purple? Will he have a new, sinister backstory? Does Forge just enjoy watching us all scramble for answers? (Spoiler: Yes, yes he does.)

Black Sabbath? The Final Final?

Alright, let’s just take a second to talk about Black Sabbath’s supposed last-ever concert. (Again.) Because we’ve heard this before. Retirement tours in metal are about as trustworthy as a “limited edition” product that mysteriously keeps getting restocked.

But let’s assume they really mean it this time. That means Ghost gets the insane honor of playing on the final night of the band that invented heavy metal.

And their newest Papa’s first appearance will be on that stage. Baptism by fire? Nah. Baptism by Tony Iommi’s riffs.

Tobias Forge, On Playing Dress-Up (Again)

So why does Forge keep doing this? The whole costume-changing, persona-shifting thing? Well, the guy actually explained it pretty well once. In a 2019 interview with Full Metal Jackie, he talked about how playing a different character lets him, y’know, let loose:

“Speaking just for myself, I know that coming out onstage as another character, looking different, acting different, definitely allows for you to act and behave in a way that you wouldn’t normally do. This can be both traumatic and also therapeutical in a way.”

A little bit of rock ’n’ roll, a little bit of therapy. He continued:

“One of the luxuries of being able to dress up for it and become a different character is that as soon as I am not that character anymore, no one expects me to behave the way that the character does onstage.”

So yeah, there ya go. He likes being able to step in and out of these crazy over-the-top personas. Makes sense—imagine trying to live your whole life in full papal makeup. Exhausting.

And Then… A World Tour

Oh and let’s not forget—Ghost is hitting the road in 2025. First stop: Europe.

• April 15 – Manchester, UK
• May 24 – Oslo, Norway

Then, it’s off to North America, starting July 9 in Baltimore, Maryland and wrapping up August 16 in Houston, Texas.

Safe bet? Papa V Perpetua will be the centerpiece of the whole thing, and Ghost will probably find new ways to make us all deeply uncomfortable—but, like, in a fun way.

Also, They Dropped a Movie

As if the band wasn’t busy enough, Ghost also decided to drop a physical home video release of their feature film Rite Here Rite Now on December 6, 2024. Right? Why just release an album cycle when you can throw in cinema?

Now What?

More mystery. More cryptic messages. More absurdly dramatic music videos. And, inevitably, another Papa. Eventually. We know that Forge loves nothing more than making his fans sweat over when the next character will take over.

But for now, it’s Papa V Perpetua’s time to shine. Well, I mean, once we actually see him. If history has taught us anything, it’s that Ghost never gives up their secrets all at once. And we’re all just going to have to play along.

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