Only two days after the conclave of Catholic cardinals met in Vatican City and looked themselves in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope, the smoke on top of the building was white; a new pope had been elected. American Robert Prevost appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to the roar of thousands of people gathered in St Peter’s Square. He took the name Leo XIV, meaning 13 popes before him have chosen.
Speaking to CBS, Dennis Doyle, a theologian and professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of Dayton, explained that a pope’s name indicates “a certain spirit and direction and vision of the new pope.”
“The first thing that you would look for would be, which popes had that name before?” he said. “That would signify something about the direction that the pope wants to take.”
CBS papal contributor Candida Moss said the name Leo can be traced back to Pope Leo the Great. He held his papacy from 440 to 461 and famously met with Attila the Hun and talked him out of attacking Rome.
