Something in a name
As white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City last month and a new pope was introduced to the world, millions of people scoured the Internet, eager for information that could provide insight into the makeup of the little-known Argentinian cardinal. Soon they learned that he represented a number of firsts for the papacy, as the first Jesuit and the first pope from the Americas. But perhaps the most significant first was his seemingly simple and yet remarkably significant selection of a name. In a groundbreaking move, said author and former Catholic priest James Carroll at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) on Tuesday, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, a lover of nature who was devoted to serving the poor. “There is a ringing clarity to it that took the world’s breath away. It was ingenious. It was worthy of the great...