# White smoke! We have a Pope! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 13, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838 "2013-03-13T18:10:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/121 "2013-03-13T20:54:11Z")
> [@Simmerdown](#): > > Sorry, I meant the part about choosing names. Whoops - I was responding to AK84. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/122 "2013-03-13T20:58:41Z")
Holy crap: a _Jesuit_? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/123 "2013-03-13T20:59:39Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Jeez, talk about your humblebrags. “Aw shucks, li’l ole _me_?” I guess it’s better than the Latin for “I deserve this!” ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/124 "2013-03-13T21:05:25Z")
I see cites that he earned masters in chemistry, but I haven’t found any that he taught chemistry - can anyone find one? Edit: found it, in teh place mentioned above [World News: Latest International Headlines, Video, and Breaking Stories From Around The Globe | NBC News](http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/13/17299920-meet-the-new-pope-francis-is-humble-leader-who-takes-the-bus-to-work?lite) Brian ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/125 "2013-03-13T21:05:48Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Holy crap: a _Jesuit_? A very good choice, to me. A little odd, perhaps, seeing as how the Jesuits are the Pope’s own shocktroops, but all the ones I’ve encountered are great guys. You have to give him the education card at least, and he’s a teacher to boot? GOLDEN! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/126 "2013-03-13T21:08:48Z")
> [@Jman](#): > > Sweet. Pope Frank. 😃 Frank’s a nice name. Frank, Frankie, Fran, Frannie… little Frannie poo… ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/127 "2013-03-13T21:13:53Z")
> [@JillGat](#): > > “We”? Speak for yourself. I don’t acknowledge any pope. I find this an interesting position to take. Do you not believe he exists? Do you not believe he is the leader of the Catholic Church? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/128 "2013-03-13T21:17:09Z")
Also, I believe **Bricker** _was_ speaking for himself and other Catholics. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/129 "2013-03-13T21:18:04Z")
Pope Pepe (Pepe’s short for Francisco). He sounds like a better choice than Ratzy, but I guess anyone would have been a better choice (his stance on homosexuality, contraception and euthanasia are abhorrent to me). ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/130 "2013-03-13T21:18:27Z")
We played “Prophecy of the Popes” at work by opening the dictionary and looking at the first adjective, then noun, you could find. I got “Hypersensitive shooting star.” The new pope is from Argentina, whose flag has a sun in the center. The sun is a…what, class? That’s right, a star. Now to see if he’s a gun owner or quick to cry. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/131 "2013-03-13T21:23:22Z")
I guess it’s no surprise that he’s a hard liner. I thought the position on contraception was softening in the church. I guess not. > **[From public transport to popemobile: Bergoglio’s journey to top of the church...](https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/13/world/europe/vatican-pope-bergoglio-profile/index.html)** > > New pontiff Jorge Bergoglio is known as a humble man, a capable administrator and a man of great faith. > [@](#): > > Bergoglio is considered a straight-shooter who calls things as he sees them. He has clashed with the government of Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner over his opposition to gay marriage and free distribution of contraceptives. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/132 "2013-03-13T21:29:08Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > “When I was seventy-six, it was a very good year…” You’ve outdone yourself! Question: What’s the significance of a Jesuit being pope? Not being a Christian, I have no idea what it means. ---
**Author:** ![President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/President_Johnny_Gentle)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/133 "2013-03-13T21:30:44Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > There was already an article about him as a cardinal, and it was just renamed to “Pope Francis”. Within 30 seconds of the announcement. As soon as I figured out which cardinal it was, I checked his page. It had already been renamed. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/134 "2013-03-13T21:42:45Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > You’ve outdone yourself! > Question: What’s the significance of a Jesuit being pope? Not being a Christian, I have no idea what it means. What it makes me think of: Jesuits are generally thought of as mode intellectual/scientific Catholics. Heavily involved in education. Not what I tend to think of as super touchy-feely in the faith. More intellectually rigorous. But then he chose Francis. St. Francis of Assisi has a different group, the Franciscans, whose focus is helping the poor and downtrodden. So, an interesting juxtaposition of two strains of Catholicism. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/135 "2013-03-13T21:47:45Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Question: What’s the significance of a Jesuit being pope? Not being a Christian, I have no idea what it means. The Jesuits were created as a counter-Reform organization. A kind of shock troops of Roman Catholicism. They have the reputation of being very dedicated to orthodoxy and using casuistic arguments. They’re one notch below Opus Dei. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/136 "2013-03-13T21:48:55Z")
There’s more than one Francis though, the new pope might be name checking[Francis Xavier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Xavier)- one of the first 7 Jesuits. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/137 "2013-03-13T21:56:55Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > There’s more than one Francis though, the new pope might be name checking[Francis Xavier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Xavier)- one of the first 7 Jesuits. I honestly doubt that. Why wouldn’t he go for Ignatius? He had to know people would think of the big Francis, not more minor Francises. This is a guy who has made a big deal of humility and poverty. In little blurbs about him, that’s how he’s identified, as someone who has made a big deal over the poor and his own dedication to leading a simple, humble life. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/138 "2013-03-13T21:57:31Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > An Argentinian in a gown is about to go onto a palace balcony mob and thank an emotional mob… > > This seems somehow familiar. InEvitable, as it were? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/139 "2013-03-13T22:02:02Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > They’re one notch below Opus Dei. A notch below them how? In what regard? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838/140 "2013-03-13T22:03:47Z")
Interesting fact: Francis is the first new regnal name (I don’t count “John Paul” as new) since Lando in AD 913, and this pope is probably the very first ever\* (unless you count Peter)† to take a new regnal name that wasn’t his personal name. - There are many popes before Lando whose personal names are not known, but I suspect that they all took their own names or one of the previous names. † Simon Bar-Jonah was apparently using Peter (Cephas) as his personal name during the life of Jesus, which I think pre-dates his popeness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-smoke-we-have-a-pope/652838.md?page=8)