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First question for new popes: 'By which name do you wish to be called?'


Reuters; Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Left, Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful for the last time. Right, his namesake Pope Benedict XV, circa 1915.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

The first clue about what kind of leader the next pope will be — liberal or conservative, reformer or by-the-book — will come only minutes after the smoke clears at the Sistine Chapel.

From a balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica, the world will learn not just who has been elected but what he chooses to call himself, a decision steeped in centuries of church history — and a good indicator of the new pope’s vision and inspiration.

Until the sixth century, popes went by their given names. There was a Pope Sylvester, a Pope Julius and a Pope Victor. Then, in 533, a priest named Mercurius was elected to lead the church and decided that a pope named after a pagan god  — "Mercury" — just wouldn’t do.

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When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope, in 2005, he chose Benedict XVI as a tribute to two men. One was the previous Pope Benedict, who guided the church through World War I. But Benedict XVI said that he also meant the choice as homage to St. Benedict, an intellectual like Ratzinger and one of the patron saints of Europe, for his “powerful call to the irrefutable Christian roots of European culture and civilization.”

In particular, Benedict XVI prayed to his saintly namesake to help Catholics keep Christ at the center of their lives.

“Benedict saw Europe as the key problem and the place where we really needed to focus,” Reese said.

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When John Paul I died just 33 days later, he was remembered so adoringly that Reese recalls making a bet with a colleague that the next pope would take the same double name.

“He just caught everybody’s imagination,” Reese said. “This smiling pope. It was just a whole month of very positive response to him.”

He won the bet, and Pope John Paul II led the church for the next 27 years.

This time around, only one bet would be a sure loser. No pope has chosen to be called Peter II. There’s no rule against it, but it is seen as poor form — an honor reserved for the first pope.

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Of course, the new pope could always choose to be called Benedict XVII — certainly a possibility because Benedict XVI appointed most of the cardinals who will choose his successor. But such a selection might disappoint Catholics who are hoping for a reformer after a papacy marked by a sexual abuse scandal, other missteps and shrinking membership in the United States and Europe.

Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. The new pope could choose to make his mark and choose a name never used before. Reese said he has always wondered why no one has adopted the name Pope Joseph.

Or he could set 1.2 billion Catholics around the world scratching their heads.

“The new guy,” Reese said, “could be John Paul Benedict I.”

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/

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