What's in a name for a newly-elected pope?
When asked if he accepts his election as pope, the new leader of the Catholic Church is also asked about how he would like to be known to the world.
The late Pope Francis was clear from the beginning of his papacy about how he wanted to lead the Church.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he picked Francis – associating himself with the much-loved Italian saint who focused on peace, poverty and simplicity.
His 12-year reign of the Church, ending with his death on Easter Monday, was characterised by social outreach, urging people to remember the poor and the marginalised and speaking out against war.
Catholic commentator, Joe Ronan, said: 'If you were going to change your name you would want to change your name for a particular reason and you would want to make a particular point with it.'
He said generally popes picking a name are likely to choose one of someone they have admired or want to emulate.
'I think that's very much where these names are coming from and which is of course why they're significant,' he said.
'It's the first indication of what the direction of the papacy might be.'
While he added that it could also be possible someone simply likes a particular name, he said that 'generally there'll be some form of a devotion to a particular person or somebody with a particular style.'
A new pope, as supreme leader of the Church, can choose to keep his own name as there are no set rules on changing it.
Mr Ronan, who works with the Catholic Voices media charity, said the tradition of choosing a papal name only began in the 500s.
He recalled a pope called Mercurius whose name was 'a little close to the Roman God Mercury, so he probably thought 'that's not a good idea' so he actually took the name John and became John II.'
John has been the most popular name, with Pope John the 23rd the most recent of these. Others such as Gregory and Benedict have been chosen multiple times too.
Only two have double-barrelled their chosen names – John Paul I and John Paul II.
There is a name that has never been chosen and is unlikely ever to be picked – Peter.
Saint Peter was the Church's first Pope, and all those after him are seen as chosen successors.
'I don't think anybody that would be pope would take it upon himself to call himself Peter.'
He said 'they wouldn't be demonstrating humility' if they did.
Another unlikely name would be Joseph – the name of Jesus's earthly father.
'If somebody went for Benedict now, which is a popular name, the immediate assumption might be that they would want to be more theologically-based, like Benedict the XVI – but there are 15 other Benedicts.
'So it is a very personal choice and it is a very indicative choice.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Donald Trump says there is a 50-50 chance of EU-US trade deal
Update: Date: 2025-07-25T15:38:30.000Z Title: more complete quotes from Trump and his comments before leaving the White House Content: US president tells reporters that Europe 'wants to make a deal very badly' as he leaves the White House for his trip to Scotland Jakub Krupa Fri 25 Jul 2025 16.38 BST First published on Fri 25 Jul 2025 09.03 BST From 2.59pm BST 14:59 I can now bring you for his trip to Scotland. Here is what he said on the prospects for a trade with the EU: 'I would say … we have a 50/50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50/50 chance of making a deal with the EU. It will be a deal that where they have to buy down their tariffs, because right now it's 30%, they will have to buy it down. Maybe. Or they could leave it the way they are. But they want to make a deal very badly.' 4.28pm BST 16:28 Lisa O'Carroll Keir Starmer's status as Donald Trump's favourite foreign leader has been cemented again in remarks the US president made before boarding a helicopter taking him to Air Force One flight to Scotland for a private visit to his golf clubs. While he is now keeping the EU nervously waiting for a deal he said has only a '50:50' of being made, he heaped praise on the prime minister and Scottish first minister John Swinney. 'This week we want to talk about certain aspects [of the UK-US trade deal] which are going to be good for both countries, more fine tuning, also we are also going to be doing a llittle celebrating together because you know we get along very well. UK has been trying to make a deal for 12 years and haven't been able to do it… we got it done. He's doing a very good job, good prime minister good guy, we really get along very well. We are going to have good time I think, the prime minister and I get along very well, the Scottish leader too. We have a lot of things, my mother was born in Scotland, and he's a good man the Scottish leader so I'm looking forward to meeting him.' Trump warned he would be sending out a fresh batch of tariff letters this week with deals sealed with nearly all, bar the EU and Canada. He also said some countries would get a tariff rate of 10% less than 24 hours after he said the range of tariffs would be between 15% and 50%. 'Most of the deals are finished [at] a lower tariffs I can get, I don't want to hurt countries but we're going to send a letter out sometime during the week and it's basically going to say you're going to pay 10%, you're going to pay 50%, you're going to pay maybe less, I don't know. 'Australia was great, they opened the beef [inaudible] for the first time ever. … So August 1 is going to come and we will have most of our deals done, if not all. … We haven't really had a lot of luck with Canada… we are working very diligently with Europe, the EU, that covers a lot of territories, a lot countries, that's a big one right now, We haven't a deal with Canada. We haven't been focused on it.' Updated at 4.38pm BST 4.20pm BST 16:20 Meanwhile on the other side, EU officials and diplomats briefed journalists on Friday that they could reach a deal with the US this weekend, Reuters reported. The deal would likely include a 15% baseline tariff on all EU goods entering the United States and probably a 50% tariff on European steel and aluminium, the officials and diplomats said. One of the sources said a weekend deal seemed likely as the 'agreement is basically in the hands of Trump now.' 4.03pm BST 16:03 Lisa O'Carroll Donald Trump's warning that the EU only has a '50:50' chance of a tariff deal shows he is looking to extract more concessions from the bloc before 1 August, his self-imposed deadline for a deal. Boarding his plane on his way to Scotland, he breezily told reporters that he had rated chance of a recent Japan deal at worse than that, 25%, but they came with concessions and 'made a deal'. 'They kept coming back, and we made a deal,' he said warning that it was up to the EU if they wanted to stick with the 30% tariff rate he has threatened to impose on 1 August. His words will send shivers around the capitals of the EU which was hoping a second version of an agreement in principle, accepting a baseline tariff of 15% on most exports to the US, would be enough to get the US president's approval. Even this week sources close to German chancellor Friedrich Merz were expressing frustration that a deal had not already been done. Half year results published today by Volkswagen (14:52) revealed the current 25% extra tariff Trump has imposed on cars is already hurting hard. The car giant said it had taken a €1.3bn hit because of the US tariffs. There is speculation that commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and trade representative Jamieson Greer would join Trump in Scotland but they were not on the passenger list released to the media. Trump has a meeting scheduled with the British prime minister Keir Starmer on Monday, fuelling hopes that he will finish the trade deal with the UK by slashing the 25% tariff he imposed on steel exports. There is also speculation that European leaders such as Germany's Merz may try and reach out to the US president over the weekend to try and break the impasse. Merz has had a direct line to Trump in recent weeks. Updated at 4.06pm BST 3.01pm BST 15:01 Trump was also asked about Emmanuel Macron's declaration that France would recognise the Palestinian state in September, and it was clear he did not thought much of it. He said: 'Look, he's a different kind of a guy, he's okay, he's a team player pretty much. But here's the good news: what he says doesn't matter. It's not going to change anything. … This statement doesn't carry any weight.' 2.59pm BST 14:59 I can now bring you for his trip to Scotland. Here is what he said on the prospects for a trade with the EU: 'I would say … we have a 50/50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50/50 chance of making a deal with the EU. It will be a deal that where they have to buy down their tariffs, because right now it's 30%, they will have to buy it down. Maybe. Or they could leave it the way they are. But they want to make a deal very badly.' 2.16pm BST 14:16 In the last few minutes, US president Donald Trump told reporters there was a 50-50 chance that the US would reach a trade agreement with the EU. He spoke to reporters when leaving the White House, en route to the airport and before his departure for Scotland, where he will spend the weekend. 1.52pm BST 13:52 Lisa O'Carroll The German car manufacturer Volkswagen has said Donald Trump's US import tariffs have cost it more than £1bn in the first half of the year. Volkswagen said it had made strong progress realigning the company, which is considering cutting 35,000 jobs by 2030, but that it had suffered a €1.3bn (£1.13bn) 'decline in operating result primarily due to high costs from increased US import tariffs'. The company has also reduced its profit margin range to be between 4% and 5% for the year, based on an assumption that tariffs of between 10%, at best, and the current 27.5%, at worst, will be made permanent by the US president. The group, emblematic of German industry, also makes the Audi, Seat and Skoda brands as well as the luxury marques Lamborghini and Bentley, and commercial vehicles including Scania trucks. Its reduced revenues underline the German chancellor Friedrich Merz's continued appeal to Trump to urgently sign a deal on tariffs with concessions for the EU car industry. 1.52pm BST 13:52 As the EU continues to talk with the US about a tariff deal ahead of the 1 August deadline, more and more European companies issue warnings about the costs of not getting an agreement with Washington. Over to Lisa O'Carroll for more details. 1.25pm BST 13:25 Separately, Reuters reported that Elon Musk's Starlink systems used by Ukrainian military units were down for two and a half hours overnight, a senior commander said, part of a global issue that disrupted the satellite internet provider. Starlink experienced one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline, the agency reported. The commander of Ukraine's drone forces, Robert Brovdi, later said the incident had highlighted the risk of reliance on the systems, and called for communication and connectivity methods to be diversified. 12.33pm BST 12:33 Erm. We reported on Wednesday that the European Commission said (blog) it had conveyed its concerns about the anti-graft law reform in Ukraine to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This was also confirmed on Thursday, in a separate briefing (blog). But Zelenskyy reportedly denied it today, telling reporters (via Interfax-Ukraine) that: 'I have not communicated with Ursula von der Leyen in recent days. Everything that was written about it, everything that she allegedly told me, is a fake. We did not have a conversation.' Updated at 12.49pm BST 11.48am BST 11:48 Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor Night by night, the blitz develops. Russian drones, decoys, cruise and ballistic missiles – increasingly aimed at a single city or location – are being launched in record numbers into Ukraine, straining the country's ability to defend itself and raising questions about how well it can endure another winter of war. One day earlier this month, 728 drones and 13 missiles were launched, mostly at the western city of Lutsk, home to many Ukrainian airfields. Large salvoes now come more frequently: every three to five days, rather than every 10 to 12, and civilian casualties are rising: 232 people were killed in June, the highest monthly level for three years. A 1,000-drone attack is anticipated shortly and last weekend a German army major general, Christian Freuding, predicted that the Kremlin's ambition was to attack Ukraine with '2,000 drones simultaneously'. Production of drones and missiles has improved, as have Russian tactics. Not only are the drones unleashed in larger swarms, with dozens of decoys included, but they are also being flown either much lower or at much higher altitudes, sometimes in a stack to fool the defenders before swooping down steeply to their target. The additional height takes them beyond the range of mobile Ukrainian gunners, whose job has been to shoot them down, relatively cheaply. Analyses of Ukrainian air force data show that more drones are getting through: from close to 5% in March and April to between 15% and 20% in May and June. Russia is also using its Shahed drones more intelligently, analysts say, to open a path for faster and more dangerous cruise and ballistic missiles because the 50kg (110lb) explosive normally carried by a Shahed only does a relatively limited amount of damage. Designed in Iran, the delta-winged Shahed 136s are now made in Russia, where they are known as Geran-2s. At least two factories have been identified, one in Izhevsk, and most notably in Yelabuga, more than 700 miles from Ukraine. The modern-looking assembly line was shown off on Russian television a few days ago, with dozens of distinctive fibreglass and carbon-fibre frames positioned to sinister effect in the background. 'The Shahed problem has been foreseeable for some time. Russia has been asking itself: 'What will be the T-34 of this war?'' said Jack Watling, a military expert with the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, referring to the tank that is considered by some to have helped the Soviets defeat the Nazis in the second world war. Read full report: Updated at 11.54am BST 11.14am BST 11:14 It has to be said that the French decision wasn't particularly well received by the US, with state secretary Marco Rubio calling it 'reckless' and saying 'it only serves Hamas propaganda.' Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, quipped that Macron did not say where a future Palestinian state would be located, AFP reported. 'I can now exclusively disclose that France will offer the French Riviera + the new nation will be called 'Franc-en-Stine,'' he said on X. But French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot defended the move on Friday, saying the French proposal went directly against Hamas' will. 'Hamas has always ruled out a two-state solution. By recognising Palestine, France goes against that terrorist organisation,' he argued on X. Updated at 11.17am BST 10.51am BST 10:51 One story we are tracking this morning is the reactions of other major European countries to the French plans to recognise Palestine, announced by president Emmanuel Macron last night. But ahead of a E3 meeting later today – that's France, Germany and the UK – a German government spokesperson just said that 'there are no plans to recognise Palestinian state in short term', Reuters reported. But he said 'the priority now is to take long-overdue steps towards two-state solution', promising to 'increase pressure if progress is not made'. The Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said earlier that the recognition of a Palestinian state needs to be directly linked with its recognition of Israel, or otherwise 'the problem will not be solved'. Updated at 10.56am BST 10.29am BST 10:29 Kevin Rawlinson Meanwhile, the Irish hip-hop band Kneecap have criticised Hungary's far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, after they were banned from entering the country for three years ahead of a scheduled appearance at a music festival there. The group, who are outspoken supporters of Palestine, were due to perform at Sziget festival on 11 August. But the Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said on Thursday they had been banned because their 'members repeatedly engage in antisemitic hate speech supporting terrorism and terrorist groups'. He said: 'Hungary has zero tolerance for antisemitism in any form. Their planned performance posed a national security threat and, for this reason, the group has been formally banned from Hungary for three years. If they enter, expulsion will follow under international norms.' Responding in a post on X, the group said: 'To the tens of thousands of fans who we were buzzing to see in person at Sziget, we're sorry we won't be with you. The authoritarian government of Viktor Orban say we 'pose a national security threat.' Which is fucking outrageous coming from a man who welcomed Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal, like a hero just a few weeks ago. There is no legal basis for his actions, no member of Kneecap has ever been convicted of any crime in any country. We stand against all hate crimes and Kneecap champions love and solidarity as well as calling out injustices where we see it. It's clear this is political distraction and a further attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinian people.' Kneecap have had several shows cancelled in recent months, including at TRNSMT festival in Glasgow and at the Eden Project in Cornwall. 9.44am BST 09:44 Helena Smith in Athens Over in Greece, the culture ministry has announced that it will be extending a ban on opening hours of all archaeological sites, including the Acropolis, in Athens after the weather service predicted that scorching temperatures were unlikely to recede until Monday. The worst of the heatwave is likely to hit today and tomorrow. 'Archaeological sites will remain closed between 12:00 to 17:00 due to high temperatures for the safety of workers and visitors,' the ministry said in a statement released mid-morning today. 9.42am BST 09:42 Helena Smith Elsewhere, wildfires, described as the worst in more than half a century, have devastated large tracts of southern Cyprus, leaving at least two dead, dozens injured and hundreds displaced. As the EU announced it would send in water-bombing planes, after the island requested help though the bloc's civil protection mechanism, an estimated 250 firefighters battled to contain blazes raging on multiple fronts. By midday Thursday, nearly 24 hours after breaking out, the infernos had consumed more than 40 square miles of territory, decimating prime agricultural land and dozens of homes in village communities outside Limassol on the Troodos range. Charalambos Theopemptou, the Green MP who chairs the Cypriot parliament's environmental committee, spoke of a 'tragic situation' with blazes fuelled by extreme weather and gale-force winds. Temperatures nudging 44C in several parts of the east Mediterranean island were forecast to rise further Friday as a week-long heatwave intensified across southern Europe. 'We haven't seen such devastating fires since the Turkish invasion in 1974,' he told the Guardian. 'It's tragic, people have died, 72 houses and 91 cars have been burned, it's absolute chaos and that's also because preventative measures haven't been taken … scandalously and tragically the public warning system, an EU directive voted into law back in 2022, has not been implemented.' As a result, panic-stricken people had attempted to outrun the flames in their cars. 'Narrow streets in small communities were jam-packed and that's how people died,' Theopemptou said. 'The government has made a real mess of things. Illegal waste dumps haven't been cleared, [inflammable] vegetation hasn't been removed, basic infrastructure like big cement water tanks and hose pipe points aren't in place, all of which has helped the fires spread.' By late Thursday, Greece, Egypt, Israel and the UK, which has an RAF base on the divided island, announced they would also be weighing in with air support and fire fighters. Turkish Cypriots in the breakaway north have also offered to help with some going so far as to gather food and supplies for those in fire-stricken areas. 9.31am BST 09:31 In further comments from Zelenskyy, he confirmed that Germany will finance two Patriot systems, and Norway will pay for one, with further talks under way, including the Netherlands. In addition to securing air defence supplies, Ukraine needs to cover a financing gap of $40bn next year, Zelenskiy said in remarks released by his office and reported by Reuters. 9.03am BST 09:03 Jakub Krupa Ukraine is looking to secure funding for 10 Patriot air defence systems under the deal agreed with US president Donald Trump, with active diplomatic efforts to find sponsors for all of them, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Previously Germany suggested it could pay for two systems, with Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden among other European countries declaring their support for the initiative. In comments released to journalists on Friday, Zelenskyy also insisted he 'listened and responded adequately' to concerns over the anti-graft law, with the new bill now being proposed to resolve concerns about the anti-corruption agencies' independence. He also admitted that there should 'probably have been more of a dialogue' before the original law was adopted, AFP noted. The president added: 'I am focused on the issue of the war because right now, the number one issue in Ukraine is the war. The biggest problem is the war. The main enemy is Russia.' Zelenskyy suggested that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators started discussing a direct meeting between him and Putin in another bid to end the conflict. 'In talks with us, they have begun to discuss it. This is already progress toward some kind of meeting format.' Elsewhere, I will be looking at the E3 meeting of the UK, France and Germany on Gaza and Palestine, which will surely attract more attention after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, pledged to recognise the state of Palestine in September. Separately, Baltic defence ministers are meeting with US defence secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington, as we also await updates on the much-awaited EU-US trade deal. I will bring you all key updates from across Europe today. It's Friday, 25 July 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live. Good morning.
BreakingNews.ie
40 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
France's highest court upholds some of Bashar Assad's legal protections
France's highest court on Friday upheld some of Syrian ex-leader Bashar Assad's personal immunity as a head of state, while allowing possible future war crime warrants, drawing criticism from human rights lawyers and Syrian activists. The Cour de Cassation upheld Assad's head-of-state immunity, but added that since he is no longer in office, 'new arrest warrants may have been or may be issued against him for acts that may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity'. Advertisement The decision is a blow to activists who had hoped the court would set aside the immunity, a decision that could have had far-reaching consequences for other leaders accused of atrocities. 'From our side as a victim, this is a huge mistake. This will support another dictatorship to keep doing this kind of crime, they know they will enjoy immunity,' said Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Centre for Media, which collected evidence of war crimes. 'It is a sad day for us,' Mr Darwish said. ⚖️[Press release] Scope of immunity of foreign officials and Heads of State 👓Press release and rulings > — Cour de cassation (@Courdecassation) July 25, 2025 The president of the Cour de Cassation, Christophe Soulard, said in the ruling that 19 judges had declined to lift Assad's immunity, which could have paved the way for his trial in absentia in France over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013. Advertisement Human rights lawyers had said that it was high time to enable prosecution of leaders linked to atrocities while they are in power, not just when they leave. But international law forbids it. 'Under current international law, crimes against humanity and war crimes are not exceptions to the principle of jurisdictional immunity for sitting foreign heads of state,' Mr Soulard said. Assad, the former leader of Syria now in exile in Russia, retained no lawyers for these charges and has denied that he was behind the chemical attacks. Advertisement 'The court's ruling is a missed opportunity for justice,' said Mariana Pena, a lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, which helped bring the case to the court. But she said that the ruling 'leaves the door open to the prosecution of Assad'. The court also ruled on a case against a former Syrian government finance minister in Assad's government, allowing that he could be prosecuted. Adib Mayaleh's lawyers have argued that he had immunity under international law. Advertisement For more than 50 years, Syria was ruled by Hafez Assad and then his son Bashar. During the Arab Spring, rebellion broke out against their tyrannical rule in 2011 across the country of 23 million people, igniting a brutal 13-year civil war that killed more than 500,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Millions more fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Europe. The Assad dynasty manipulated sectarian tensions to stay in power, a legacy driving renewed violence in Syria against minority groups, despite promises that the country's new leaders will carve out a political future for Syria that includes and represents all of its communities. Advertisement The International Criminal Court is not bound by head of state immunity and has issued arrests warrants for leaders accused of atrocities – like Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. The Syrian government denied in 2013 that it was behind the Ghouta attack, an accusation that the opposition rejected, because Assad's forces were the only side in the brutal civil war to possess sarin. The United States subsequently threatened military retaliation, but Washington settled for a deal with Moscow for Assad to give up his chemical weapons' stockpile. Assad survived in power more than a decade longer, aided militarily by Russia and Iranian-backed proxies. Activists and human rights group accuse him of using barrel bombs, torture and massacres to crush opponents. But then in late 2024, a surprise assault by rebels swept into Aleppo and then Damascus, driving Assad to flee to safety to Russia on December 8, 2024. New warrants after Friday's ruling in France could lay the groundwork for the former leader's trial in absentia or potential arrest, if he travels outside Russia. Any trial of Assad, whether in absentia or if he leaves Russia, would mean this evidence could then 'be brought to light', Ms Pena said, including an enormous trove of classified and secret evidence amassed by the judges during their investigations. Syrians often took great personal risk to gather evidence of war crimes. Mr Darwish said that in the aftermath of a chlorine gas attack in Douma, for example, teams collected witness testimonies, images of devastation and soil samples. Others then tracked down and interviewed defectors to build a 'chain of command' for the Syrian government's chemical weapons production and use. 'We link it directly to the president himself, Bashar al-Assad,' he said. Syrian authorities are now investigating nearly 300 people for crimes during several days of fighting on the coast earlier this year. T The interim authorities in Damascus have pledged to work with the United Nations on investigating further war crimes of the Assad government and the civil war.
The Independent
43 minutes ago
- The Independent
German politician admits drawing swastika on ballot paper
A regional lawmaker in Germany has admitted to drawing a swastika next to a far-right candidate's name on a ballot paper, leading to his resignation as deputy speaker of the state legislature. The incident occurred during a vote for a regional cross-border body in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, which includes representatives from Germany, France, and Switzerland. The Nazi symbol was discovered on Thursday, prompting an admission on Friday from the lawmaker. The far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party had unsuccessfully attempted to secure the election of its nominees in the vote. Using the swastika is illegal in Germany and falls under a ban on the symbols of unconstitutional organizations. The speaker, Muhterem Aras, described the incident as 'a disgrace for this parliament.' But, since it was a secret vote, it was not immediately clear who was responsible. On Friday, Daniel Born, a deputy speaker of the legislature and member of the center-left Social Democrats, said that he had drawn the symbol next to the name of an AfD lawmaker. He described his actions in a statement as a 'serious mistake' and apologized. He said that he was stepping down as deputy speaker and leaving his party's parliamentary group. Aras called for him to give up his parliamentary seat, German news agency dpa reported. Born said that he had not intended to make out that a far-right lawmaker had drawn the symbol. 'On the contrary, in a knee-jerk reaction, I wanted to show that votes for AfD are always votes for right-wing hatred and agitation, no matter in what election," he said. AfD has firmly established itself as a force in German politics since it was formed 12 years ago, even as it has drifted steadily to the right. In Germany's national election in February, it finished second with 20.8% of the vote, and is now the biggest opposition party in Berlin. However, mainstream parties refuse to work with it. Born said in his statement that 'it no longer leaves me a minute's peace' that people are increasingly getting used to the party.
