With the recent elevation of Pope Leo XIV the office of the Pope has been getting a lot of attention. The world watched when the white smoke came out of the Sistine Chapel, and then eagerly awaited the moment when the new Pope was announced. Who would it be? What name would he choose?

It makes you wonder why popes choose new names. Have they always done this?

Well, historically speaking, it is not uncommon for monarchs to pick a new name when they take the throne, and the Pope is indeed a monarch (Vatican City is the smallest country in the world). Popes have not always taken a new name, but the tradition does have a lot of history.

You could make the argument that the first Pope, the apostle Peter, took a new name. Jesus renamed him Peter (Cephas), which can be read about in John 1 and Matthew 16. After that, however, Peter’s successors did not change their name. Linus, Anacletus, Clement I, Evaristus, and so on all kept their birth names.

This changed in the year 533 when John II was born. His birth name was Mercurius, named after the Roman messenger god Mercury. He felt that it wouldn’t be fitting for the Pope to be named after a Roman god, so he changed it to John. Since there was previously a Pope John just 10 years before, he became John II.

After that, it was hit or miss for quite a long time. Some Popes would change their name, but most would keep their birth name. In 983 when John XIV, whose birth name was Pietro Canepanova, took the name John, he was only the fourth Pope to do it. But then, his successor Gregory V, born Bruno Von Karnten, did the same, and the tradition was set.

From then on, Popes have always taken on a new name. Until Pope Francis, they would always pick the name of a previous Pope. Francis took on the name of a saint, but not a Pope. Of course, since Popes have unrestricted power over this type of thing, someone elected to the position could pick any name they wanted, or keep their own.

This has continued all the way down until the most recent Pope, Leo the XIV and will likely continue long into the future.

What would you choose if you were Pope?

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