What does the papal name Leo mean? The history behind the new Pope's name

NZ Herald

08-05-2025

Popes have been selecting papal names for centuries. They are often drawn to similar names, usually those of previous pontiffs they would like to emulate. There have been a lot of John fans — at least 21 popes have used the name (23 if you count two John Pauls).
For Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, that name was Francis, chosen for St Francis of Assisi, 'the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation', he told reporters in 2013, shortly after his election. The name dovetailed with his vision for the church: 'How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor,' he said.
Other common choices include Gregory (16), Benedict (15) and Clement (14).Though not officially recognised by the church, antipopes — those who opposed the selection of the pope and purported that they were the rightful head of the Catholic Church — have occasionally influenced the numbering of subsequent papal names, such as Benedict XVI, Francis' predecessor. Because of the antipopes, there are 21 Johns, but no Pope John XX, and eight Bonifaces but no Pope Boniface VII.
John and Gregory are the most common names among the popes. In its more than 2000 years of existence, the Catholic Church has had 265 pontiffs across 267 papacies, who have taken a total of 84 papal names.
In the early days of Catholicism, popes simply used their baptismal name, and some pontiffs had names that sound somewhat irreverent today, such as Hilarius and Simplicius. But when Pope John II was elected in 533 AD, he changed the precedent, opting for John over his given name, Mercurius, likely to shed associations with the pagan Roman god, according to Vanessa Corcoran, a scholar of medieval religious history at Georgetown University.
(It appears Pope Dionysius, who reigned from 259 to 268, did not feel it necessary to create the same distance from the party-loving Greek god of wine; Dionysius was a common name at that time).
It wasn't until the late 10th century that choosing a papal name became standard practice — with the exceptions of Adrian VI in 1522 and Marcellus II in 1555, who kept their baptismal names. Out of 264 popes, 129 chose a new name.
Since Pope John XII, there have been 12 Innocents (the first Pope Innocent held the papacy from 401 to 417), seven Urbans (the first Pope Urban reigned from 222 to 230) and six Leos (there were seven other Leos before choosing a new name became the standard practice).
The late 1700s to mid-1900s saw a wave of Piuses, while more recently, popes have gravitated toward John and Paul. Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla chose John Paul II in 1978, in honour of his predecessor John Paul, who died after holding the pontificate for 33 days. John Paul I was the first pontiff to use a double name.
With the exception of the new double name of John Paul, Francis was the first pope since Pope Lando in 913 to choose a previously unused papal name.
Like Francis, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI in 2005 with a vision for his pontificate. Pointing to Benedict XV, who had guided the church through World War I, he said he planned to place his ministry 'in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples.'