The name chosen by the next pope will be his first decision --
and the first clue to how he will lead the Roman Catholic
Church. Once a pontiff is elected in the Sistine Chapel, he is
asked which name he will use. The last pope, Benedict XVI, said
he took the name to link himself to Benedict XV, who led the
church from 1914 to 1922 and “guided the church through the
turbulent times of the First World War.” The same name evoked
St. Benedict of Norcia, who “constitutes a fundamental point of
reference for the unity of Europe and a powerful call to the
irrefutable Christian roots of European culture and
civilization," Benedict XVI explained, according to the Catholic
News Agency. Tying himself to those two historic figures
resonated with his push to reenergize the faith in Europe. As
the cardinals were voting, “all of them are thinking about it,”
said Chester Gillis, theologian and dean at Georgetown
University. “They have a name in mind when they ask, ‘By what
name do you wish to be called?’” Oddsmakers betting