By Peter Franklin, UnHerd.
Catholics believe that the choice of a new pope is guided by the Holy Spirit, assuming that the electors are listening. Certainly, Leo XIV, who emerged from the conclave earlier this month as the successor to Pope Francis, believes he has a God-given mission. And, like the pontiffs who have come before him, his choice of name is an indication of what that purpose might be.
His Holiness’s X official account went live this afternoon, and among his first posts was an invocation of the last pope to take the name Leo. “Over a century ago, Pope Leo XIII noted that ‘the preservation of the Eastern rites is more important than is realized’,” Leo XIV wrote. “Let us embrace the appeal to safeguard and promote the Christian East, especially in the diaspora.”
In remarks reported by Vatican News last week, the new pope, known before his accession as Robert Prevost, said: “I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”