From Peter to Linus to Francis: How do popes pick their papal names?
Kendrick Lamar once said, "If I'm gonna tell a real story, I'm gonna start with my name."
It's a long way from hip hop to the Holy See, but that sentiment is something both realms have in common: Names matter, and they can help tell a person's story.
Each new pope, once chosen by a conclave of the College of Cardinals, can take on a new name, one infused with meaning, history and tradition.
When Jorge Bergoglio ascended to the papacy, he chose to become Pope Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th century friar who rejected his family's wealth and went to live, minister and work among the poor.
Francis was the first pope from the Americas, and the first Jesuit pope. He was also the first pope to choose the name Francis. Meeting with journalists in 2013, shortly after he became pope, he explained how he settled on the name: According to the Catholic Herald, a friend, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, "embraced me and kissed me and said, 'Don't forget the poor,' and that struck me. ... Immediately I thought of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis was a man of peace, a man of poverty, a man who loved and protected creation."
Other popes have chosen names that reflected their own values, their own heritage or their own heroes.
Why do popes choose new names?
Not all members of Catholic religious orders change their names upon entering ministry. But for those who do, accepting or choosing a new name is symbolic of that person's new stage in life, their entry into a new community and a new way of serving God and other people.
According to the Sioux Falls Bishop's Bulletin, popes began choosing new names early in the Catholic Church's history. In 533, a new pope was selected. His name, Mercurius, though, honored a Roman god, Mercury, and was considered a pagan name. He took the name of the prior pope, John, becoming John II, who'd been martyred.
Still, many popes continued to keep their given names until the 10th century, when it became a more common practice for popes to choose new names. The last pope to keep his given name was Marcellus II, elected in 1555.
Pope Francis gestures from a balcony while delivering an Easter Sunday message in St. Peter's Square. The pontiff died the following day.
What was the first pope's name?
St. Peter was the first pope, one of the twelve Apostles and the man who Catholics believe was ordained by Jesus himself. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said to the man who'd been known as Simon, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church."
Catholics believe that after Jesus' death and resurrection, Peter became the earthly leader of the nascent church, spreading the Gospel and evangelizing throughout the Roman Empire. He is believed to have settled in Rome, where it's thought he was martyred around 64 AD.
What papal names have been used most?
John has been the most commonly chosen papal name: 23 pontiffs have taken that name. Part of the reason for that is a papal tradition of taking the name of one's predecessor. Another reason: There are dozens of Catholic saints named John (at least 126 of them, according to the Catholic news outlet Aleteia), including John the Baptist, John the Apostle (also called John the Evangelist for his work spreading Jesus' story), St. John of the Cross and St. John Damascene.
Francis' predecessor, Joseph Ratzinger, chose the second-most-used papal name when he became Benedict XVI. There have also been 16 popes named Gregory. Clement, Innocent, Leo and Pius have also been used often throughout church history.
Are there any names used just once?
Many popes have chosen names not used before or since, including (but not limited to): Lando (who served from 913-914), Romanus (897), Formosus (9891-896), Valentine (827), Zachary (741-752), Conon (686-687), Agatho (678-681), Vitalian (657-672), Severinus (638-640), Silverius (536-537), Hormisdas (514-523), Symmachus (498-514), Simplicius (468-483), Hilarius (461-468), Mark (336-337), Dionysius (259-268), Fabian (236-250) and Linus (64-76).
Peter, the first pope, was also the only one to have that name.
(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How do popes pick their papal names? What you need to know
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
From Atheism To Becoming A Nun: Sister Theresa Aletheia's Story
She became an atheist at just fourteen years old due to the suffering she saw in the world and problems she observed within the Catholic Church. Fast forward to now, she's a nun who has fully devoted her life to Christ and her mission: finding God in the midst of misery and providing a safe space for those who have been hurt by members of the Church. Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, co-creator of Sisters of the Little Way, joins Ben to discuss the epiphany that led her back to her faith, and the practice that landed her on the front page of The New York Times: 'memento mori,' a discipline centered around intentionally thinking about your death in order to ultimately improve the life you live. Follow Benjamin on X: @BenjaminHallFNC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Quipu: The Inca's Mysterious Recording Device
Long before Spanish colonization, the indigenous people of Peru kept track of important dates and numbers, and perhaps even stories, using a mysterious coding system of strings and knots called a quipu. When the Spanish invaded, they decided these bundles of strings and knots were idolatrous and pagan, in opposition to the Catholic Church. They burned them, hoping to quell any thought of resistance. Quipu means knot in Quechua, the dominant indigenous language in the region. You might mistake a quipu for a brightly colored necklace or headdress, but it is a communication device. Unlike their Mayan and Aztec counterparts, the Incas had no written language. They used quipu instead. Quipus consist of a series of colored, knotted cords made from cotton, wool, or other animal fibers. The knots and their placement on the cords represented numerical values. In some cases, it carried other information, such as dates or records of events. The use of the quipu dates back to 2500 BCE, long before the Inca Empire emerged. We still don't know how it originated. Deciphering quipus is tough. Its purpose and meaning can change depending on the length of the cord, the number of knots, the color, the way the cords are twisted and woven, the material, and the arrangement. While some historians think they were used almost exclusively to communicate numbers, others believe they were capable of storytelling and poetry. Certainly, the main purpose of the quipu was to track and manage the data of populations, goods, resources, and taxes. It was the administrative tool of the empire. Each knot on the cord had a specific value depending on its position, with different knot types (such as single knots, long knots, or figure-eight knots) representing different values. The Incas used the decimal system and knots to record 1s, 10s, 100s, 1000s, and so on. The colors of the cords could indicate categories like resources, people, or geographical locations. For example, red represented warriors or war, white represented silver, and yellow symbolized gold. The quipus were managed by quipucamayocs, which means "quipu authority." These administrators were the record keepers, accountants, bookkeepers, mathematicians, census takers, and historians of the empire. The smooth running of the empire rested almost entirely on their shoulders. The Incas had a complex road network called the Qhapaq Ñan. All these roads led to the capital of Cusco. Endurance runners called chasquis transported quipus along these roads, resting or passing them to other runners in supply stations called tambos posted every few kilometers. Messengers could quickly carry news of an Incan victory, the death of an emperor, or details of an enemy attack from province to province. After smallpox had killed the ruler Huayna Capac, his sons, Atahualpa and Huascar, battled for the throne. Atahualpa triumphed and killed his brother. To further legitimize his ascension, Atahualpa had all records destroyed. This meant burning quipus that recorded anything to do with his brother. Atahualpa even killed the quipucamayocs. "[It was] a total renewal, what the Incas called a pachakuti or a turning over of time and space," historian Mark Cartwright wrote. Later, a Spanish governor of Peru, Vaca de Castro, tried to find quipucamayocs to teach him about the land. Eventually, he came across two who had survived the purge. "They found them wandering in the mountains, terrorized by the tyrants of the past," according to historian John A. Yeakel. Though the Spanish destroyed many quipus, some chose to study them. Inca Garcilaso de la Vega was the son of a conquistador and an Incan prince, and acted as an intermediary between the two peoples. He learned about the quipu as part of his upbringing and wrote extensively about them: When my father's Indians came to town on Midsummer's Day to pay their tribute, they brought me the quipus; and the curacas [local leaders] asked my mother to take note of their stories, for they mistrusted the Spaniards, and feared that they would not understand them. I was able to reassure them by re-reading what I had noted down under their dictation. Likewise, a rogue Jesuit priest named Blas Valera advocated for learning from the quipus. Also half Spanish and half Inca, Valera proclaimed that the Incas were the real rulers of Peru. He died under house arrest in 1597. In 2015, anthropologist Sabine Hyland got a call from the remote Andean village of San Juan de Collata. This little village held some of the last remaining quipus. Villagers granted Hyland access to two quipus from the 18th century. They told her that for years, guarding the quipus was a coming-of-age ritual for local adolescent boys. After seeing one of Hyland's documentaries, the village elders had reached out, hoping she would visit. "Over the next couple days, we would learn that these multicolored quipus, each of which is just over two feet long, were narrative epistles created by local chiefs during a time of war in the 18th century," Hyland wrote. The elders recounted the story of a failed rebellion against the Spanish. A leader, betrayed by his associates, was imprisoned and eventually executed. He had used the quipu to tell his countrymen that he was the ruling Inca Emperor. Not far from the village of San Juan de Collata, Hyland was invited by a local schoolteacher to examine a hybrid quipu. The hybrid was set on a wooden board containing a ledger of names and multicolored quipu threads. "The board bears the names of villagers, while the quipu cord associated with each name indicates the contribution of labor and/or goods that the individual was expected to provide in a community ceremony," Hyland wrote. Much to Hyland's astonishment, quipus were used in the village until the 1940s for communal, administrative, and record-keeping purposes.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Retired Diocese of Greensburg bishop dies after ‘cardiac incident'
A retired bishop who led the Diocese of Greensburg for just over a decade has died. He was 86. Bishop Larry Kulick shared on social media Saturday that Bishop Emeritus Lawrence E. Brandt suffered a 'cardiac incident' earlier in the week and underwent 'extensive' surgery, after which he was in critical condition. Bishop Brandt died on Sunday morning. The Diocese of Greensburg says Bishop Brandt led them through a series of 'major changes' between 2004 and 2015 as its fourth bishop. He's known for bolstering finances and addressing the declining number of Catholics, among several other initiatives. Bishop Kulick remembered Bishop Brandt as the man who asked him to study Canon Law, then later to assist him as an Episcopal Master of Ceremonies and Vicar General. 'He was incredibly disciplined, but that only fostered his spirituality and his ability to leave the Diocese in good order, both spiritually and financially,' Bishop Kulick said. Bishop Emeritus Ed Malesic remembered his predecessor fondly. 'When I was announced to be the next Bishop of Greensburg in 2015, Bishop Brandt was among the first to welcome me, and he did so with great warmth,' Bishop Malesic said in a Facebook post. 'He guided me along the way in a role that was very new to me and offered me wise advice when I asked for it. Bishop Brandt was a man of deep conviction and faith. He will be remembered by me as a man of courage and grace, always the gentleman.' Bishop Kulick pointed out that Bishop Brandt died on the Solemnity of Pentecost. 'It is fitting that the Lord called him on the day that we celebrate the birth of the Church,' he said. Recently retired Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik extended his condolences after learning of Bishop Brandt's death. 'I first came to know Bishop Brandt when he was the chancellor of the diocese of Erie, long before he became the Bishop of Greensburg,' his statement reads in part. 'During the nearly 30 years we have worked together, I came to know him as a man who truly loved Christ and His Body, the Church. May God quickly take him to the place prepared for him in heaven.' Funeral arrangements for Bishop Emeritus Brandt will be announced at a later date. Click here to read his full biography. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
