Papal trivia II

A little known trivial fact which I have just worked out. Apart from John Paul I's double-barrelled innovation, Pope Francis is not just the first pope in a long time to take a previously unused regnal name: he is, so far as is known, the ONLY pope ever to have done so. All previous popes either used their baptismal name (e.g. Leo I, Benedict I, Lando) or took a regnal name that had been used by a previous pope (a tradition started by John II, whose given name Mercurius sounded too pagan for a pope).

And thanks for starting a new thread; the last one was starting to get a bit long and stale!

New pope, new thread!

2 popes meet for lunch for 1st time in 600 years

Pope Francis visit Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo

Pope Francis calls newspaper kiosk to cancel order

Pope names successor in Buenos Aires (Guardian)

That's remarkably quick for a new bishop to be appointed, only a couple of weeks after the see became vacant. I wonder if it is simply because Pope Fancis knows the situation there so intimately, or whether it is a sign that the whole process of appointing bishops will be streamlined? There are vacant sees throughout the world, some of which have been vacant for years.

#5: I don't think we can (yet) draw any conclusions about the speed of future episcopal appointments. Two weeks is right in line with how quickly most modern day popes have appointed their successors; the only recent pontiffs who have taken longer than one month were Paul VI and Bl. John Paul II (who also had to appoint Cardinal Luciani/John Paul I's successor in Venice).

>6 tbl1801: Thanks. That's a pity, as over 40% of our dioceses in South Sudan are vacant!

Poland unveils giant statue of Pope John Paul II (BBC)

Pope Celestine V was not killed by a nail in the skull.

An update for those of you who know about Fr. Reggie Foster, who was the Vatican's long-time chief Latinist: http://news.stkate.edu/articles/foster-latinist