Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; habemus Papam: Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum Georgium Marium Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Bergoglio qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum.
With these words did Jean Louis Cardinal Tauran announce the election of Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio SJ, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, about 8pm on 13th March 2013.
Round here I heard two channels (Fox News and Sky News) solemnly say – after the habemus Papam – "we had not yet been told" what name he would take. Come on! It is literally the very first question he is asked once he accepts the election (UDG n.87). It is written down in the Ordo Rituum Conclavis as part of the formula for the announcement. If they were going to diverge from that it would be (a) very hard to pull off in the time available and hence (b) very obvious. I had already switched off the ABC (that's the Australian government funded broadcaster, not the US network) on principle when they wheeled on an ex-priest, so I could not be sure, but certainly the news ticker did not contain the name.
Pace the media, he did not take the name "Francis I" and, unless you are travelling in time from the future and are a little confused, he will not be known as "Francis I" until there is a Francis II. John Paul I was announced as such – "Ioannis Pauli primi" – although the same Proto-Deacon a few months later announced that Cardinal Wojtyła had taken the name "Ioannis Pauli" without a numeral.
First Pope from the Jesuits. First Pope to take a name that did not exist in the first millennium. Apparently Pietro Bernadone gave his son the name Francesco (he had been baptised Giovanni; actually he had probably been baptised Ioannem, but you get the idea) because of mercantile connections with France.
First time in 50 years that the Proto-Deacon got the grammar right. Since Cardinal Ottaviani said "Paulum sextum" in 1963, this is probably the first time in 55 years that he got the grammar right and did not use an unnecessary numeral. I cannot find video of the announcement of John XXIII but Cardinal Canali probably avoided saying "vigesimum tertium". Mind you he might have made a point of it, to underline the rejection of Antipope John XXIII.
UPDATE: The last Pope to come from a religious order was Gregory XVI (1831-1846), the immediate predecessor to Blessed Pius IX (I am not suggesting that is his only distinction, just locating it in time for you). Gregory XVI was a Camaldolese monk.
UPDATE II: Of course what name the Pope will take is the first thing the Cardinal Dean asks. The Pope acts juridically, like every other sovereign, by signing his name. He cannot do anything until he has a name. Choosing a name is not something that can be postponed.
UPDATE: The last Pope to come from a religious order was Gregory XVI (1831-1846), the immediate predecessor to Blessed Pius IX (I am not suggesting that is his only distinction, just locating it in time for you). Gregory XVI was a Camaldolese monk.
UPDATE II: Of course what name the Pope will take is the first thing the Cardinal Dean asks. The Pope acts juridically, like every other sovereign, by signing his name. He cannot do anything until he has a name. Choosing a name is not something that can be postponed.
