Hello rivera01,
Good question.
Benito is synonymous to Benedicto. What inclines some people to use the different variants, I guess is taste.
I would take under consideration in this occasion the fact that the other Popes used the variant Benedicto or the latin ‘Benedictus’ and the Holy Father has selected his name in honor or to follow in the footsteps of Benedict the XIV (?).
So, to use the variant ‘Benito’ would not really follow here.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popes
“Benedicto es un nombre propio masculino de origen latino en su variante en español. Proviene de Benedictus, que quiere decir “bien nombrado, el que recibe buen nombre”; también puede querer decir “bendito”. El patronímico en español es Benítez (‘hijo de Benito’).”
diccionario.sensagent.com/benedicto/es-es/
Translation by Abba: “Benedicto is a proper masculine name of latin origin in its spanish variant. It comes from Benedictus, which means " well named, he who receives a good name”, it can also mean ‘blessed’. The patronymic in Spanish is Benitez (‘son of Benito’).
diccionario.sensagent.com/Benito/es-es/
Not to confuse you, but, I found this ‘sanbenito’ article interesting. A sanbenito is the article used to cover the heretics that were going to be killed by the Inquisition.
In Spanish, San Benito means “Saint Benedict”. An alternative etymology by Covarrubias and former editions of DRAE has it from saco bendito (“blessed sack”). Américo Castro “proved that it does not come from saco bendito”.[4]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanbenito
Hope this helps,
Abba
