
Choosing Francis: The Name That Shaped a Papacy
By friar Bob Roddy, OFM Conv.
Why did Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a former Jesuit, choose the name Francis? During the 2013 Conclave, Cardinal Bergoglio was seated next to his good friend, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, a former* Franciscan friar, and Archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil. When Cardinal Bergoglio reached the necessary number of votes to be elected pope, Cardinal Hummes, hugged his good friend and whispered in his ear, “Don’t forget the poor.” Pope Francis said that those words echoed through his mind and heart and when he was asked, “What name do you take?” without hesitation, he responded “Francis.” When Pope Francis made his first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, on March 13, 2013, Cardinal Hummes was standing by his side.
*Note: When men who belong to religious orders are appointed as bishops, they are, from a canonical view, no longer a member of the religious order as they have accepted an appointment to lead a diocese and be head of the diocesan clergy. These men are allowed to continue to use the initials of their religious order after their name, if they wish. When our Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., now the bishop of Lexington, KY was ordained as a bishop for the diocese in 2015, his first words after the liturgy were, “I have been, and I will always be a Franciscan.”