After the Conclave, Watch for the New Pope's Name

Some 135 cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to presumably elevate one of their own to the papacy. When the white smoke blows, signaling the election of a new pope, the world will watch not only the man who emerges in his new white cassock, but also the name he picks. Jorge Mario Bergoglio sent a strong signal in 2013 in his choice of Francis, for St. Francis of Assisi, who took care of the poor and animals and had little place in his life for wealth, reports Reuters. "In the deepest recesses of their mind, when they start the conclave, everyone will walk in there with a name in their head," says Natalia Imperatori-Lee, religious studies chair at Manhattan University. A little history of the names popes have chosen, the meaning behind them, and what the new pope's name might indicate about his papacy, via the AP:

• Francis: A would-be Francis II would signify a continuation of the late pope's policies, considered left of center, but not left enough for many progressives in the church.
• Pius: This was the most popular papal name in the 20th century, and would indicate a shift toward traditionalism.
• John Paul: The pope who took this name in honor of Pope John XXIII, who initiated Vatican II, and Paul VI, who closed it. His papacy lasted about a month, and his successor, John Paul II, signaled the continuation of that theme with his choice of name.
• Paul: The church has had six popes named Paul, after the apostle who spread the gospel of Jesus.
• Most popular: John, with 23 popes holding that name, either for St. John the Apostle or St. John the Baptist. Francis suggested a John as his successor. Benedict, the late pope's predecessor, pulled that name into second place with 16, tied with Gregory.
• Fun fact: Back in the way-back day, popes used their given names. The first to dodge that tradition was Roman Mercurius in the 6th century, who chose John II. That practice took hold centuries later, in the 11th, born of "a desire to signify continuity," the Rev. Roberto Regoli, a historian at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, tells the AP.
• Another fun fact: The new pope, as Francis did, is free to choose whatever name he likes. "This would open a new season and could mean that his program is not in line with any of his predecessors, so an even more personalized program," Regoli says.

(More papal conclave stories.)