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In his time around the end of the 19th century, Leo XIII was known as the “Social Pope” and “Pope of the Workers”. He wasn’t a radical but opened the door to mo
by pavlov 1y ago
In his time around the end of the 19th century, Leo XIII was known as the “Social Pope” and “Pope of the Workers”. He wasn’t a radical but opened the door to modern thinking in the church.
Presumably there’s some symbolism to why the new pope wanted to adopt this particular name.
- pclmulqdq 1y agoPopes usually go for symbolic names, so the Leo XIII connection seems unavoidable.
- jowea 1y agoI think unavoidable is the wrong word, he surely picked the name because of this connection.
- pc86 1y agoSymbolism is a huge part of what name you select which is why its been a minute since a Pope Innocent or Pope Pious.
- davidw 1y agoAs a YIMBY, I could go for a Pope Urban.
- fakedang 1y agoRequest understood. Here's an Urban and his massive ironcast cannon.
- jowea 1y agoPius XII is controversial because of WW2, but I don't see anything particularly bad with the latest popes with Innocent. Is it something related to his predecessors? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_XIII https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_XIII
- pc86 1y agoYeah I was mainly referring to II and III :)
- swyx 1y ago[flagged]
- timonofathens 1y ago[dead]
- paulvnickerson 1y agoPope Leo 13 wrote this encyclical: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_novarum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_novarum My guess is new Pope Leo 14 will try to thread the needle on rising global interest in experimenting with socialism and the possible ramifications of AI automation.
- lo_zamoyski 1y agoThe book you want to read about what he was about is this one (reprint): "The Church Speaks to the Modern World: The Social Teachings of Leo XIII" [0]. You can find his encyclicals, speeches, etc. here [1]. [0] https://a.co/d/gmUTo49 https://a.co/d/gmUTo49 [1] https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en.html https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en.html
- antognini 1y agoThere's also more baggage associated with choosing the name of a very recent predecessor. Choosing Francis II would alienate certain factions in the Church, choosing Benedict XVII or John Paul III would alienate others. Reaching further back in time is more of a signal of unity.
- dragonwriter 1y agoJohn-Paul II chose his immediate predecessor’s name, and he had combined those of his two most recent predecessors. The three most recent popes are the longest run of Popes with none choosing the name (counting JPI as choosing both of two recent predecessos) of a recent (one, two, or three back) predecessor since the 1500s.
- antognini 1y agoYes, it of course happens, but when it does it is usually a signal that the new pope intends to continue with the vision of his predecessor. (John Paul II is also something of an anomaly, because John Paul I died barely a month into his papacy and so didn't have time to put in place any real agenda. John Paul II was more commemorating John Paul I the man.)
- dragonwriter 1y ago> Yes, it of course happens, It happens far more often than otherwise; you've reversed rule and exception.
- antognini 1y agoYes, but the past half century has been a rather unusual time for the Church since it's coming out of one of the more consequential ecumenical councils. It typically takes the Church a few generations to come to an agreement about the meaning of an important council. But in the immediate wake of it there's usually a wider diversity of visions.
- yellow_postit 1y agoFrancis would joke he hoped his successor would be John XXIV. We still get a nice long Roman numeral but could've been even better.