Where do Papal names come from?

[cowboytns]

This may sound like a silly question and in a way I am kind of embarased to admit I don’t know the answer. Where do the Papal names come from? In other words how was it decided that Cardnial Joseph Ratzinger would become Pope Benedict XVI? Why not Pope John Paul III?

Any insight and/or reading sources would be greatly appreciated.

God Bless

 

[MarkThompson]

He picks it himself immediately after he is elected. And unless he offers an explanation, we just have to guess why he picked Name A instead of Names B - Z. It might be that he wants to model his pontificate after the reign of an earlier pope with that name, or just that he likes the sound of it, we don’t really know.

By the way, as I understand it the practice of taking a papal name other than one’s actual name began with Pope John II in 533, who didn’t want to use his given name “Mercurius” because Mercury was a pagan god. The last pope not to take a new name after election was Pope Marcellus II in 1555, whose actual name was Marcello Cervini.

 

[thistle]

This may sound like a silly question and in a way I am kind of embarased to admit I don’t know the answer. Where do the Papal names come from? In other words how was it decided that Cardnial Joseph Ratzinger would become Pope Benedict XVI? Why not Pope John Paul III?

Any insight and/or reading sources would be greatly appreciated.

God Bless

The new Pope chooses his own name immediately he is elected.
However, I would guess that those who would be considered among the favourites for election have probably thought about what name they would choose in case they are elected.

 

[vppoole]

I may be completely wrong, but I thought that the practice of papal name changing was similar to the name adoption that occurs when someone professes solemn vows in a religious community (I know of some Benedictine communities that do this, but don’t some other orders do that too?) Wasn’t this practice to follow the significant biblical pattern of name changing (e.g. Abram to Abraham, Saul to Paul, etc.)?

Again, I may be all wrong here–though for some reason, I always thought they were related.

Does anyone know if this is true?

Pax!

 

[Victorious]

When someone told Ven. Pius XII that he should have taken a different regnal name, he answered that that was probably right; however, he didn’t have any time to think about it.

As for Pope Benedict XVI, I remember reading somewhere that one of the reasons he took the name Benedict was in honor of Benedict XV, who was pope during World War I and worked hard for peace.

 

[Victorious]

I may be completely wrong, but I thought that the practice of papal name changing was similar to the name adoption that occurs when someone professes solemn vows in a religious community (I know of some Benedictine communities that do this, but don’t some other orders do that too?) Wasn’t this practice to follow the significant biblical pattern of name changing (e.g. Abram to Abraham, Saul to Paul, etc.)?

Again, I may be all wrong here–though for some reason, I always thought they were related.

Does anyone know if this is true?

Other orders also have the practice of taking religious names. Some congregations, like the Carmelite nuns, have a custom of adopting cognomens (e.g., Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face). I have always figured (without ever having researched the issue) that the papal practice of adopting a regnal name was related to this.

It also occurs to me, now that I think about it, that a regnal name has the effect of pushing the Pope’s ethnic/national identity into the background – which is where it belongs, given the Pope’s role as the head of the universal Church.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

. . . Why not Pope John Paul III?

. . .

While several popes have chosen their predecessor’s name, I don’t think there is any instance where three successive popes have chosen the same name. I don’t know any rule against it; so have no idea why it hasn’t happened.

 

[choy]

well, its already been explained that the first time this happened is because the Pope’s name was from a pagan god, and he didn’t want to lead the Catholic Church with the name of a pagan god

now most Popes will change their time to denote their mission. depending on the predecessor or saint who’s name they assume. for example, because John Paul I served so shortly, Karol Wojtyla chose John Paul II to honor John Paul I and to continue what he began. Joseph Ratzinger chose Benedict because of the work done by the past Pope Benedict in Europe, and he hopes to reinvigorate Christianity in Europe again which sadly is either becoming more agnostic or more Muslim