What's in a name? How popes pick their names, and other papal name oddities
More than you ever wanted to know about the history of pope names.
When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope in 2013, he stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica with a shy wave and never-before-seen name to add to the papal roster: Francis.
It was the first time in over 1,000 years - since Pope Lando in 914 - that a pope had chosen a unique regnal name, different than all of his predecessors.
(Whi…