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 Pope Leo XIV Photo by Edgar Beltrán /The Pillar From Wikimedia Commons Used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license Thursday, May 8th 2025 will be remembered as a historic day for the Catholic Church as the College of Cardinals elected Cardinal Robert Prevost as the next Successor of Saint Peter and Bishop of Rome. He chose the name “Leo” and will carry it as Pope Leo XIV. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States. He celebrated his first Mass as pope in the Sistine Chapel on Friday morning, and now embarks on the monumental challenge of leading the 1.4 billion followers of the Catholic faith. The news media is providing volumes of information and commentary on the new pope, so this article will refrain from that. Here is a brief biography of the new pope, and a look into his choice of the name “Leo”. Born in Chicago in 1955, the future pope was educated at Villanova University, the school administered by Order of Saint Augustine in Philadelphia. He would go on to earn advanced degrees at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He joined the Augustinians and was ordained in 1982. In 1985, he began an extended ministry in Peru, where he served in a number of clerical roles. In 2001, he was tapped as the Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine and led the order in that role until 2013. He then returned to Peru after being named Bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis in 2015 (he would also become a citizen of Peru in that year). He was brought to Rome in 2023, when Francis appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He was also created a cardinal in 2023. What’s in a Name? Much has been made since his introduction regarding the pope’s choice of the name “Leo”. The immediate connection is made to the most recent pope of that name, Pope Leo XIII, who served from1878 to 1903. Leo XIII is remembered as the pope who defined the foundations of social justice doctrine of the Church in the modern age, principally through the release of his remarkable encyclical “Rerum Novarum” in 1891. The name Leo is the fourth most-common papal name, following John (taken 23 times), Gregory (16), and Benedict (15), and tied with Clement at 14 (and yes, there was a Pope Benedict XVI, but Benedict X was later declared ineligible, leaving us with only 15). The popularity of the name Leo seems to tie back to Pope Saint Leo I, also frequently referred to as Pope Leo the Great, one of the most important popes of all time. Popes Leo on Stamps Leaving history and current events aside, let’s get back to philately. Five popes named Leo have appeared on issued by Vatican City. Here is a sampling of each Pope Leo on stamps: Pope Saint Leo I (Pope Leo the Great) (served as pope from 440-461): 
 Scott 150 (1951) and Scott 301 (1961) Pope Saint Leo IX (1049-1054): 
 Scott 1225 and 1227 (2002) Pope Leo X (1513-1521):  Scott 1540 (2013) Pope Leo XII (1823-1829):  Scott 1143 (2000) Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903): 
 Scott 884 (1991) and Scott 1145 (2000) If recent history is any guide, we will soon see the Vatican Post Office releasing numerous stamps depicting the new pope. That will add to the legacy of the name "Pope Leo" on the stamps of the Vatican City State. REFERENCES: |
