Why not John Paul, Pius or Benedict?

MANILA, Philippines—Why not Benedict XVII, John Paul III, Paul VII, or Pius XIII? Or even Peter II?

Argentine Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio has been rightfully called a Pontiff of many “firsts,” but his unexpected rise to the papacy perhaps begins with his choice of papal name: Francis.

In his 2012 book “Pope Names,” church scholar Jimmy Akin gave a rather generous

“1-percent” chance that the next Supreme Pontiff after Pope Benedict XVI would pick a “new unprecedented name.”

Akin, whose original work tracked and analyzed all the names used by the Catholic Church’s 265 Popes (including the “antipopes”) since the time of Peter, believed that the odds were “actually lower than

0.8 percent.”

That’s based on the fact that since AD 996, when the practice of taking papal names became common, only Albino Luciani did the “unprecedented” and took the name John Paul I for what would be a short-lived, 33-day papacy in 1978.

It was unexpected, Akin explained, because Luciani combined the names of two previous Pontiffs, Pope John XXIII (who began the work for Vatican II) and Paul VI (on whose watch the council was completed).

Anticipation

“I don’t want to list the chances as zero, so I’m giving this a 1-percent chance, just to anticipate the unexpected,” Akin wrote on the chances that Benedict’s successor would choose an entirely different name.

And Bergoglio did just that, picking “Francis,” until now unused by Pontiffs as an assumed name.

The new Pope has explained his name choice. It’s after

St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the mendicant Franciscan Order, not Francis Xavier, cofounder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), Bergoglio’s community.

But it’s the names he could have picked—but did not—that probably invite more curiosity.

Peter in tradition

Like most of his predecessors, Bergoglio understandably steered clear of St. Peter, traditionally held as the first Pope, for that would naturally raise eyebrows.

In the second Gospel, Jesus himself gives the name “Peter” (from the Aramaic “Kepha” meaning “rock”) to his top disciple Simon bar-Jona (Matt 16:18), and Peter, being the leader of the Twelve, went down in Christian tradition as the first Pope.

Akin noted that one Pope, who was baptized “Pietro,” had to change his name to John XIV in AD 983 “because he didn’t want to invite comparisons, as Pope, to the original St. Peter.”

Eleven more Peters assumed new names when they became Pope.

“No Pope wants to start off his reign with the massive, incredulous, ‘Who does this guy think he is? He just put his name above all his predecessors but the first!’ reaction that would follow,” Akin explained.

So why not Benedict XVII or John Paul III, Bergoglio’s two immediate predecessors?

Noting that half of the Popes had picked the names of one of the 10 previous Pontiffs, Akin said the natural choice would be any name among Benedict XVII, John Paul III, Paul VII, John XXIV, Pius XIII or Leo XIV.

Akin said Benedict XVII was unlikely unless the outgoing Pontiff died in a “crisis situation” or the successor “feels particularly indebted to him.”

John Paul superstar

The author said John Paul III was more likely, but warned that the new Pope might be “uncomfortable inviting comparisons” with someone like John Paul II, the first Pope in centuries who might go down in history as “Pope St. John Paul the Great.”

And so Pope Francis it is.