HABEMUS PAPAM: we have a new Pope! Leone XIV
Is the American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost who ascends to the papal throne with the name of Leo XIV.
After one week since the death of Pope Francis Bergoglio and a really short Conclave, we have a new pope.
When a Pope choose a name
When choosing the name, the pope makes an important choice referring to his predecessors. Who were they? To date there have been thirteen popes named Leo and Prevost is the fourteenth.
Pope Leos in Medieval times
The First was Leo the Great, elected in 440, who faced Attila’s Huns.
The second Leo was even made a Saint.
The third is the one who crowned Charlemagne as Emperor in 800, giving rise to the Carolingian Empire.
The fourth was also made a saint, he is responsible for the construction of the Leonine Walls.
In 900, Leone V (5th) did not have a long life. The seventh and eighth lived through the centuries of conflict between the Papacy and the Empire.
The Ninth Leo (Leone IX), considered one of the most important popes of the Great Schism of 1054 that separated the Catholic Church from the Orthodox Church.
Pope Leos in the Renaissance times
Pope Leo X is one of the most remembered. Member of the Medici family, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, he became pope during the Protestant Reformation until excommunicating Martin Luther in 1521.
Moving on to Leo XI, another Pope from the Medici family, who lasted less than a month.
The last two of Leo
Skipping a couple of centuries we arrive at the Leone XII (12th). This was a conservative Pope interferring in many aspects of the material life of the Romans, especially in relation to habits and moral customs. The Roman citizens remembered for decades his prohibitionist policies against the consumption of wine. He was the Pope who closed the entrances to the taverns – places where every time there was public disorder, fights and stabbings – with gates. Wine, in practice, could only be bought to take away. Roman citzens hated this law, since they had always loved the tavern as a place of social gathering. The prohibitions were considered an exaggeration and mocked every evening in the “pasquinate”. Symbol of papal arrogance.
Pope Leo XIII: the innovator
The next Leo, Leone the XIII, was a Pope deep in politics, one of the longest pontificates in history. He was an innovator involved in various theological conflicts such as science and religion. His encyclical Rerum Novarum of 1891, practically founded the modern social doctrine of the Church. The document, revolutionary for the Catholic world of the time, addressed the issue of the rights and duties of capital and labor against exploitation and class struggle.
What about the new pope Leo the 14th (Leone XIV)?
The choice of the name of the new Pope, therefore, suggests that he will not remain on the sidelines of political and social issues.
We will see… we who deal with food and wine are curious: how will Pope Leo XIV deal with the pleasures of the table? Will he allow himself a good glass of wine?
