What is in a name

I have been blessed to have two friends who can discuss matters of faith with the breadth of
theological knowledge, consequence and devotion. They are not ordained members of the clergy
but laymen who read deeply and are wholly committed to the ongoing study of the faith of our
fathers.
 
They probe encyclicals, apostolic exhortations and letters, while maintaining a library that is
unmatched when juxtaposed to any local public collection.  They are faithful anomalies of the
first degree. 
 
When Pope Francis was elected in March 2013, the man that would succeed him was not a
bishop let alone, a cardinal. Given these anomalous papal results, a conclave of our own ensued.
    
 
Once a new pope accepts, he chooses a papal name that is inspired by past pontiffs and
saints. Like so many Church traditions, renaming is not only deeply symbolic but traces its roots
to the Old Testament when Abram became Abraham and Jacob became Israel. Whereas in
Matthew 16:18 of the New Testament is when Jesus gave Simon the name Peter from the Latin
Petrus meaning rock – the first pope – upon which His Church was established.  
 
For the past dozen years, the tripe “is the Pope Catholic?" was anything but laughable.  Pope
Francis was the Church’s Obama.  He filled the College of Cardinals with political ideologues
much like Obama did with our military’s general corps. 
 
Every one of Francis’ proclamations had us holding our breath. His Liberation Theology with its
roots firmly planted in Marxism would seemingly undermine the faith from within.
 
When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope, he chose the papal name Leo. In Latin
the name means lion.  My confidant explained, “Leo is an Augustinian, so the choice reflects a
desire to reconnect with the past, more toward the foundations of the Church, rather than the
comparative radical approach of Franciscans, especially that of Francis. He was the first of his
name, a ground breaker and a rebel. Leo is the 14th.”
 
Among popes, Leos have historically confronted adversity and division and fought for unity with
clarity.  Leo I was one of three designated as “the Great.”  Leo III crowned Charlemagne, Holy
Roman Emperor who defended and spread the faith across pagan Europe. It was Leo IV in the
9th century who built the 39-foot wall that protected the Vatican from invading pirates.  Leo IX
and Leo X both led the Church during times of internal friction resulting in the excommunication
of former priest, Martin Luther.
 
Leo XIII served during the political upheavals of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  He was
an advocate of the working class who wrote the Church’s first social encyclical, “Rerum
Novarum” to meet the challenges of the industrial revolution. Today, as we confront the AI
technological transformation, the new pope referenced “Rerum Novarum” as one reason he

chose the name to continue down “this same path.” Leo XIII also confronted communism
writing the St. Michael the Archangel prayer, which many pray. In his 1899 encyclical  Testem
Benevolentiae Nostrae , he condemned the belief that the Church should change its teachings to
attract nonbelievers.  
 
Another hopeful sign was when Leo first appeared on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
he was wearing the traditional red mozzetta – the customary papal attire that was declined by his
predecessor.  Moreover, when making his way to celebrate his first Mass, he carried a crozier
used by Pope Benedict XVI.  From the beginning, Leo has shown reverence for the tradition,
mission, and history of the 2,000-year-old papacy.  Such behavior can assuage a Church full of
anxiety.  As my colleague articulated, “it heartens and gives the weary hope.”
 
Most likely the new pope is the first to hold an undergraduate degree in mathematics.
Mathematicians possess a penchant for linear and logical reasoning – another encouraging sign.
 
Leo XIV could be for the growing agnostic West what Pope John Paul II was for communist
Eastern Europe.
 
Embracing the peripheries of secularism is a course for failure.  Advancing Francis’ synodality
will only further divide the Church.  What is not needed is another heterodox Francis in Leo’s
clothing but a namesake true to the wisdom of the Leo lineage. In good faith, the new pontiff
should reinstate Bishop Joseph Strickland and Father James Altman unconditionally. 
The magnitude, tradition and the grace of the Petrine office can overcome a world filled of
anguish and distress.
 
My cohorts and I remain prudently hopeful.