Can some of my Catholic friends explain something to me? Why does the Pope change his name? What is the purpose? What is the current Pope communicating by his name choice?
Discussion
It's the Peter tradition, since he was the first Pope.
They usually pick something to signify the direction their paypal direction will take, but they don't always say precisely what it means.
Papal direction 🤣
Fruedian slip? Are you Germans cooking up another way to fund the Vatican that is going to get us another 95 theses and 500 years of anti-catholic rhetoric? We haven't even gotten around to thanking you for the last time yet.
Thing is, Peter didn't change his own name. Christ himself appointed the name. The pick-your-own-name thing came along as a norm much later.
Agreed. God changed a few people's names for His purpose. There are zero examples of a person changing their own name.
Naomi changed her name to Mara. Numerous people in the Old and New Testament had their named changed by other humans or by God.
It has long been something people do, to signify a major change in their lives. We all take on an additional name during Confirmation, for example, to signify that we are now adults under Canon Law. Mine is "Cecilia". That's why her portrait is sometimes my profile pic. https://catholicwomeninbusiness.com/articles/2023/11/22/who-was-st-cecilia
Naomi did try to change her name, but you'll also notice that by the end of the book of Ruth, she was back being called Naomi because Naomi was the name recognized by those around her and by God.
That is irrelevant to the question of what inspired the tradition.
The question was, "Why does the Pope change his name?" If Christ changing Simon's name is irrelevant, why did you bring it up? The question, nowadays as to why the Pope changes his name, is this: it's a way to signal something, either publicly or to an inner circle or to himself personally. Which is all fine. But as to the tradition of the Pope naming himself, that's still unclear. And I don't know that answer! 😀