Why does the Pope choose a new name?

Choose a name. This is the first decision of the cardinal who has just been elected pope by the cardinals voters gathered in conclave: “Do you accept your canonical election as a sovereign pontiff?” “, Asks him the oldest of the cardinals present, and as soon as he was received, he continues:” How do you want to be called? ” The new bishop of Rome chooses a first name, possibly followed by a serial number to distinguish it from the previous popes having brought this same first name.

Then the new pontiff presents himself at the central balcony of the Saint-Pierre basilica while Cardinal Protodiacre proclaims in Latin his baptism name (Monseigneur Name), then his family name (Cardinal Name), “who gave himself the name of (his name of Pontifical Reign)”.

A symbolic and biblical tradition

Taking a new name has not always been the practice of the bishops of Rome. The first whose name change is attested, Mercurius (a pagan name), priest of the Saint-Clément church, became Pope John II (533-535). It was not until 955, when Octavian, (another pagan first name) renamed Jean XII, that the use settles: all the following popes, except two did not keep their names of baptism.

If this hard practice, it is because it takes on a powerful symbolic meaning, inscribed in the Bible. Indeed, the name, in biblical revelation, says the deep reality of the thing, or of the named person, even his destiny. All names have meaning. Eve, “La Vivante” is so named because she is the mother of the living (Genesis 3, 20). Jacob, “The deceiver”, steals his birth right in Esau (Genesis, 27, 36).

The symbolism of the name is such that the call of God, the mission he gives, is expressed for several characters of the Bible by a change of name. “You will no longer be called by the name of Abram, your name will be Abraham, because I make you the father of a multitude of nations”, (Genesis 17, 5), says God to the Father of the believers to whom he promises to multiply his descendants.

Christ himself gives a new name to the apostle Simon in a key episode of the Gospel of Matthieu (16, 15-19). While Jesus asks the disciples “You, who do you say that I am?” “, Simon replies:” You are Christ, the Son of the living God. “After this confession of faith, Jesus gives him a new name:” I declare it to you: you are Peter, and on this stone I will build my church; And the power of death will not prevail over it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven: all that you will have linked to earth will be linked in the heavens, and all that you will have dismissed on earth will be delighted in the heavens. »»

How not to get the connection with each pope? Bishop, he was a successor to the apostles, in block. Having become a pope, he became a successor to the first of them: Peter, the one who confessed faith, the one that Christ established as the founding stone of his church. Because in the Catholic Church, the popes succeed not to their predecessor who has just died, but to the apostle Peter, of which they take up the charge entrusted by Christ. In a way, each pope is a stone. There is no need to be called Pierre II, audacity who could pass on the contrary for an attempt to appropriate the mission of the first apostle, to the detriment of other successors.

Choice of recent pontifical names: what spiritual message?

Out of 266 popes identified, 131 changed their names at the time of their election, often by taking up the name of a predecessor, which gives rise to series: the 23 Popes John, including two antipapes, the 12 Pie, the 15 Grégoire, etc. Like the seasons of our television series, these covers of a previous name, with adding a number, claim continuity.

The German Benoît XVI said that he had chosen this name in tribute to Pope Benoît XV, a man of Concorde who tried in vain to bring back to reason the belligerents of the First World War, and by taste for Benedictine spirituality. Paul VI has taken over a neglected name since the 16th century, and, like the Apostle Paul, has multiplied travel to announce the Gospel.

Pope Jean-Paul 1er said in this name the choice to continue the task of his two predecessors Jean XXIII and Paul VI, project managers of Vatican Council II. His 33 days of pontificate did not allow him, but John Paul II, elected after him, assumed this intention for more than 26 years.

By choosing to be called François, like the Saint of Assisi, Cardinal Bergoglio had said a lot, on March 13, 2013: priority attention to little ones, universal brotherhood, the urgency of the mission, the care of the earth, our common house. One might think that this initial choice guided and brought him over the 12 years of his pontificate.

So, François II or John Paul III, or …? Clearly, the next pope will be summoned to explain it.