By COLLEEN BARRY, Related Press
SCHIAVON, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV’s alternative of identify alerts a dedication to social justice which could be very a lot in keeping with the late Pope Francis’ international ministry.
“I think a lot us had a question mark when they elected an American, and then he selected the name Pope Leo XIV,” stated Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of non secular research at Manhattan College. “It really means to me he will continue the work of Leo XXIII.”
Pope Leo XIII, who was head of the Catholic Church from 1878 to 1903, laid the inspiration for contemporary Catholic social thought, most famously along with his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed employees’ rights and capitalism on the daybreak of the commercial age. He criticized each laissez-faire capitalism and state-centric socialism, giving form to a distinctly Catholic vein of financial instructing.
The identify “is a deep sign of commitment to social issues,” stated Imperatori-Lee. “I think this (new) pope is saying something about social justice, by choosing this name, that it is going to be a priority. He is continuing a lot of Francis’ ministry.”
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV seems on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican, Thursday, Might 8, 2025. (AP Photograph/Alessandra Tarantino)
One other predecessor, Pope Leo I, was identified for repelling the barbarian invasion of Atilla the Hun in 452 A.D. and dissuading him from sacking Rome by means of diplomacy, Italian Cardinal Maurizio Piacenza informed RAI Italian state TV. He additionally famous that Pope Leo XIII elevated the Sanctuary of Our Woman of the Rosary of Pompeii to a papal basilica in 1901.
For a lot of the Catholic Church’s first millennium, popes used their given names. The primary exception was the sixth century Roman Mercurius, who had been named for a pagan god and selected the extra acceptable identify of John II.
The apply of adopting a brand new identify grew to become ingrained through the eleventh century, a interval of German popes who selected names of early church bishops out of “a desire to signify continuity,” in accordance with Rev. Roberto Regoli, a historian at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian College.
For a lot of centuries, new popes tended to decide on the identify of the pope who had elevated them to cardinal. John was the preferred, chosen by 23 popes, adopted by Benedict and Gregory, every with 16.
It was from the mid-Twentieth century that new popes start to decide on names signaling the goal of their papacy, Regoli stated.
Initially Revealed: Might 8, 2025 at 3:17 PM EDT
