# What name will the next Pope choose? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 2, 2005, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386 "2005-04-02T09:24:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/42 "2005-04-03T03:01:12Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > I understand that one of the front runners is a Nigerian cardinal. If he is elected, I hope he takes the name Pope Leroy, if only to see the expression on Pat Buchanan’s face. Leroy is an old Nigerian name eh? I vote for Felix. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/43 "2005-04-03T03:02:05Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > I understand that one of the front runners is a Nigerian cardinal. If he is elected, I hope he takes the name Pope Leroy, if only to see the expression on Pat Buchanan’s face. Oh **gobear** you just ain’t right. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/44 "2005-04-03T03:03:40Z")
John XXIII was a surprising choice since it had been several centuries since John XXII and the past Pope Johns had been a rather undistinguished lot. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/45 "2005-04-03T03:06:34Z")
Cardinal Arinze (the Nigerian) is very well liked and not the pawn of any faction, so far as I can tell. He may very well be the compromise choice. And I have a hunch his name choice, if he is elected, will be symbolic of the outreach, especially to the Third World, of the Catholic Church, with a lot of the Italocentric traditional institutions abolished or greatly remodeled under him. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/46 "2005-04-03T03:18:13Z")
To endear himself to a new generation of catholics, how about: Pope Bob Square Pants I _Who lives at the Vatican in Italy? Pope Bob Square Pants!_ ---
**Author:** ![Jplacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jplacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jplacer)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/47 "2005-04-03T04:02:19Z")
I like Pope Sisinnius. He was pope for a three weeks in 708. Come to think of it Sisinnius would be a good name for a prog-rock band. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/48 "2005-04-03T04:03:41Z")
Pope Bernie I ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/49 "2005-04-03T04:08:09Z")
> [@Jplacer](#): > > I like Pope Sisinnius. He was pope for a three weeks in 708. > > Come to think of it Sisinnius would be a good name for a prog-rock band. Wasn’t Sisinnius a Phil Collins’ song? ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/50 "2005-04-03T04:11:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So what, IYO, would be an appropriate name, one evocative of “power and mystery”? Pope Batman? (I’m already going to hell, what with eating meat on fridays, not going to church, and having premarital sex, so yeah, add this one to my tab.) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/51 "2005-04-03T04:41:07Z")
_Reviewing the [list o’ popes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popes#List_of_popes)_ There was a Saint _Cletus_? It seems there have been four Popes named Honorius, the last one about 800 years ago. It seems a good enough name…[kinda.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavius_Augustus_Honorius)😃 The Celestines don’t seem to have turned out so well, in history’s eyes. (like the last one, who preferred living in a cave) How about Pope [Norton](http://www.emperornorton.net/mirror/http/www.quietnoises.com_80/reviews/norton.gif)? ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/52 "2005-04-03T04:59:44Z")
> [@Hugh Jass](#): > > I’d like to put in a request for Maurice I. Well, then we’d have a pope who understands the [pompatus of love](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_065.html). 😃 I’m not a Catholic, so I’m not worried about burning in Hell. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/53 "2005-04-03T05:57:24Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > How about Pope [Norton](http://www.emperornorton.net/mirror/http/www.quietnoises.com_80/reviews/norton.gif)? Blasphemous. Maybe for a Discordian Pope… ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/54 "2005-04-03T06:08:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So what, IYO, would be an appropriate name, one evocative of “power and mystery”? I don’t know. I don’t know enough about the Catholic tradition to venture a guess. I just hope that the reasons for the choice of name are more spiritual in nature, as opposed to more temporal political ones. I felt like a few suggestions were based upon a politically correct agenda. The reasons for naming him Leo were not bad. Also he’ll be the Pope when the Mayan calendar runs out in 2012, so maybe he should be named Peter, so we can align all the apocalyptic prophecies. 😉 Erek ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/55 "2005-04-03T06:18:40Z")
There was a 625-year gap between Pope Johns. John XXII died in 1334 and John XXIII was crowned in 1959. Marcellus and Julius have been out of commission since 1555. I like Calixtus as a name. If I had a son, I’d name him Calixtus. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/56 "2005-04-03T09:08:15Z")
I’m hoping for Teilhard I. OTOH, I wonder what the reaction would be if he took the name Urban - in honor of Urban II? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/57 "2005-04-03T09:38:59Z")
Adope. ---
**Author:** ![missing\_link](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@missing\_link](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missing_link)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/58 "2005-04-03T11:18:09Z")
How about John Paul II Jr. ? ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/59 "2005-04-03T11:31:26Z")
And a puff of white smoke goes up for: Pope Peil (pronounced Popeel), history’s first “pocket fisher of men.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/60 "2005-04-03T13:32:59Z")
> [@Good Egg](#): > > I vote for Felix. Which translates as “Lucky.” Pope Lucky! There’s an auspicious name! 😃 > [@Alessan](#): > > OTOH, I wonder what the reaction would be if he took the name Urban - in honor of Urban II? :eek: Urban II was the pope who called the First Crusade! I think we know what the “reaction would be” to that, at least from the Islamic world! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386/61 "2005-04-03T13:40:07Z")
I think anything but John Paul III. JP II is one tough act to follow. Why make it tougher by choosing the same name? Especially since the dearly departed is going to be known as John Paul the Great. Would you want to be John Paul the Lesser? I think either Paul VII or John XXIV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-name-will-the-next-pope-choose/297386.md?page=4)