Vote on the Next Pope’s Name

When Pope Benedict XVI officially resigns at the end of this month, the process of electing a new pope will begin and a name will have to be selected. So we’ve put together a poll with 10 possibilities, from popes’ names from the 16th through 19th century. This includes what the number would be as well as the regnal name (in parenthesis).

The next Pope isn’t going to consult our list, of course, but we’re taking a guess that he’s not going to want choose any of the 20th century names.

● Benedict XVI did take a 20th century name. Benedict XV was the second Pope of the 20th century, in the office from 9/3/1914 until his death on 1/22/22.

● There were 3 Popes named Pius in the 20th century.

● Pius X was canonized a saint in 1954 in a mass presided over by Pius XII, who himself was declared Venerable by Benedict XVI in 2009.

● John XXIIII was the only 20th century Pope John. He was beatified in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

● Paul VI was the only 20th century Pope Paul. He was elevated to the status of Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on 12/20/2012.

● Then came John Paul I, who combined the names of his predecessors, but was only in the office for 33 days when he died. His successor took the same name and became John Paul II. He was beatified on 5/1/2011.

So in the 20th century, there is already one pope who is a saint and four on the road to sainthood.

We could be totally wrong, but we don’t think the next pope will want to take the name of a pope who is up for sainthood in order to avoid any confusion.

We only went back to the 16th century but there are plenty of other names that the new pope can take beyond the 10 on our list which are still used in modern times, like Felix, Zachary, Mark, Stephen, Constantine, Nicholas, Sylvester, Victor and Eugene. He can also pick a name that has never been used before like Aloysius or Ignatius. So if you don’t like the 10 names in the poll, check other and/or leave a comment.

Next Pope’s Name
What’s Your Favorite? Adrian VII (Papa HADRIANUS Septimus) Julius IV (Papa IULIUS Quartus) Marcellus III (Papa MARCELLUS Tertius) Sixtus VI (Papa XYSTUS Sextus) Urban IX (Papa URBANUS Nonus) Alexander IX (Papa ALEXANDER Nonus) Innocent XIV (Papa INNOCENTIUS Quartus Decimus) Clement XV (Papa CLEMENS Quintus Decimus) Gregory XVII (Papa GREGORIUS Septimus Decimus) Leo XIV (Papa LEO Quartus Decimus) Other
	Current Results

To start off the voting, we picked our favorite — Leo. We like Alexander a lot too, but you can only pick one.