What’s wrong with Pope Jorge? Why Pope Francis?
Is there some history to it why they changed his name, or Jorge just too common...hispanic?
they always take a new name
As a Jesuit, he’s referring to Francis Xavier, the Spanish Jesuit who evangelized India. That should give you a hint.
RE: What’s wrong with Pope Jorge? Why Pope Francis?
Maybe wants to follow the example of Francis of Assisi...
For comparison, King George VI of Britain (the one from The King's Speech) was baptized Albert, but took the name George, after his father, when he was crowned.
The past two hundred or so Popes have taken regnal names, in order to honor someone they admired.
IIRC, Popes started taking a new name when a man named Peter was elected. Not wanting to duplicate the name of the original Peter, he took another name.
Pope O
in honor of "The One"?
They pick SAINT’S names.
They always take the name of a saint or some earlier Pope.
LOL
It is custom to translate the Pope’s name to the language of any particular country.
John Paul II was so named in English speaking countries.
In Hispanic countries he was Juan Pablo II.
In Italy he was Giovanni Paolo II.
Etc Etc Etc
They change their names to honor a predecessor, or to point the direction that they hope their governance will take. Catholics are big on taking new names at important junctures of their spiritual lives — Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, etc.
Since he is Francis I, I suppose that he means to emphasize humility in his leadership. He already is knnown as a man of the people.
My question is why he is designated Francis I? Just plain Francis should be sufficient until there is a Francis II.
I think that part of the reason why elected popes take a new name is Biblical tradition: new names are given to persons whom God has entrusted with a new mission or an honor of great magnitude.
Examples:
Abram became Abraham to signify that he would be the father to many peoples, after he manifested his willingness to sacrifice his one and only son, Isaac.
Jacob (Abraham’s grandson) became known as Israel, to signify the nation comprised of the 12 tribes that started with his sons.
Jesus renamed Simon as Peter (rock) to signify that Peter would be the rock of the Church Jesus would found through him.
Saul became Paul after he was knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus and converted from a Christian-killer to the great evangelist that wrote most of the letters in the New Testament.
Every Catholic who is receives the sacrament of Confirmation takes a new name to signify the renewal of his/her baptsimal vows and the blessings received from the
infusion of gifts from the Holy Spirit.
To a lesser degree we Catholics who are not clergy take a confirmation name of a Saint we admire. Each one of us does so for many different reasons. One of my class mates took the name of Maximilian in honor of Father Maximilian Kolbe who took the place of an inmate in Auschwitz who was to be starved to death.
I took the name of Sebastian, the Roman soldier who was shot full of arrows for his faith in Christ. I did so to remind myself what real faith is and what it might call me to do some day. I took that name to keep in mind I might need to man up if the time comes.
Each name we take is special to each one of us. The Pope changes his name, members of the church simply add the name like a second middle name.
I think they always take a new name. The new Pope chooses his name, apparently; Pope Francis decided to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi—probably my favorite Saint, as he loved animals.
The last Pope to use his own name was Marcellus II (Marcello) in 1555.
As has been posted, popes always exchange their given names for the name they would like to be be known by in the ecumenical world. Usually, they choose a name from a religious figure in history whom they would like to emulate.
Nothing is wrong with that. Why does a woman change her birth name to that of her husband? It would seem this is a much nobler reason.
(No throwing rocks, now...I just asked a question and made a comment on it...)
‘Face