By COLLEEN BARRY, Related Press
SCHIAVON, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV’s selection of identify indicators a dedication to social justice which may be very a lot according to the late Pope Francis’ international ministry.
“I believe quite a bit us had a query mark after they elected an American, after which he chosen the identify Pope Leo XIV,” mentioned Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of spiritual research at Manhattan College. “It actually means to me he’ll proceed 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 staff’ 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 signal of dedication to social points,” mentioned Imperatori-Lee. “I believe this (new) pope is saying one thing about social justice, by selecting this identify, that it will be a precedence. He’s persevering with quite a lot of Francis’ ministry.”
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 diplomacy, Italian Cardinal Maurizio Piacenza instructed RAI Italian state TV. He additionally famous that Pope Leo XIII elevated the Sanctuary of Our Girl 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 applicable identify of John II.
The apply of adopting a brand new identify turned ingrained throughout the eleventh century, a interval of German popes who selected names of early church bishops out of “a need to indicate continuity,” in line 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 most well-liked, 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 intention of their papacy, Regoli mentioned.
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