A Bishop
of Rome By Any Other Name
Today
marks an interesting anniversary of an event that took place in the year 533
ad. On this day, a man named Mercurius
was elected Pope (the Bishop of Rome).
He adopted as his papal name John II, believing that he should not as
Pope be known by his birth name, it being that of the Roman (pagan) god
Mercury. He was the first Pope to adopt
a papal name different from his own
name.
More popes have been “John” than any
other name, most recently John XXIII. The last Pope to not adopt a regnal name
was Marcellus II, elected in 1555.
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