Catholics have a new pope, and social media has something else to fixate over.
After that first puff of white smoke wafted from the Sistine Chapel chimney on Thursday and the world learned that the College of Cardinals had elected the first U.S.-born pope, there’s been a good deal of chatter about what kind of pontiff the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost will make.
The burning question for many, of course, was whether the Chicago native was a Cubs or White Sox fan. The new pope’s brother, John, answered that question in short order.
“He was never, ever, a Cubs fan,” he told WGN. “He was always a Sox fan.”
To North Siders faithful, the pontiff’s allegiance to the Sox borders on the heretical.
Coming in a close second on the list of pressing questions about the Bishop of Rome is how he decided on his new name: Pope Leo XIV. As of late Thursday, the Vatican hadn’t gone into details. But the Vatican News noted, as tradition goes, the pontiff’s chosen name “differs from the baptismal name — a choice that follows the precedent set by the first Pope, Saint Peter, whose birth name was Simon.”
“This custom emerged as early as the first millennium of Christianity to signify that the election to the Petrine See is akin to a second birth,” the outlet reported.
‘By No Means a Liberal’
What’s in a name? Well, the choice often reflects respect or admiration for immediate or distant predecessors or saints, according to Vatican News.
We do know that there have previously been 13 popes named Leo over the long run of the Catholic Church. Left-bending media outlets insist the nomenclature means the latest Leo is going to be a social justice warrior in the vein of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
Not necessarily, Federalist Senior Editor John Daniel Davidson told me Thursday on the Vicki McKenna Show on NewsTalk 1130 WISN. He said the selection of Leo XIV suggests this pope may be more traditional, more theologically conservative than Francis.
“Pope Leo XIII, his namesake predecessor, was a pope around the turn of the last century. He was famously an anti-modern pope. He wrote very memorable encyclicals that are widely cited,” Davidson said. “Pope Leo XIII was by no means a liberal, by no means a progressive.”
Nope Pope
The history of the papacy is replete with impressive names — Peter, Gregory, Pius, John Paul. But what about the names that didn’t make the cut?
Here’s the list of the top 10 most rejected pope names, for obvious reasons, based on no official source whatsoever.
10. Pope Boyardee II
9. Pope Chad, The Socially Awkward
8. Pope Lia Thomas VI
7. Pope Chocula III
6. Pope David Allan Coe VIII
5. Pope a-Roni, The Canonical Treat
4. Pope Palpatine, The Sith Lord
3. Pope Tony, The Weak and Effete
2. Pope Pony Club V
1. Pope Diddy X
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
