The legacy and meaning of the name 'Benedict'

By Mike Karapita, Special to CTV.ca

he new spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church has chosen a name that hasn't been used for more than 83 years. A look back at the legacy of Pope Benedict XV, and what it might signal about the new Pope.

Pope Benedict XV served as head of the Catholic Church from 1914 to 1922. (AP Undated Photo)

After more than four decades of having leaders called either John or Paul or John Paul, the Roman Catholic Church now has a new name for its supreme spiritual leader: Benedict.

The name was chosen Tuesday by Germany's Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected after four ballots in the historic Sistine Chapel by the secret conclave of Catholic Cardinals.

Ratzinger will be called Benedict XVI.

He's chosen a name that hasn't been used for more than 83 years, when Pope Benedict XV died at the age of 67. He'd ruled the Church for just seven years, from 1914 to 1922.

As to why Ratzinger, 78, chose that particular name, it may be some time yet before we get a detailed explanation from the Vatican. But for weeks, speculation had been growing about what the successor to John Paul II would want to be called.

Many felt that, if a new pope chose the name John Paul III, he'd be signaling a clear intention to keep the papacy going in the exactly same spiritual and theological direction.

That is, in fact, what happened 26 years ago when Karol Wojtyla became John Paul II.

The name taken by the Polish pope was instantly seen as both a sign of respect for -- and continuity with -- his predecessor, John Paul I who had reigned for only 35 days.

And, in terms of names, John Paul I took a name that signaled a continuation with the policies of not one, but two of the men who came before him: Paul VI and John XXIII.

And, now, there is Benedict – a different name than had been seen for generation. And one that raises the question of what his choice might signify, and what his legacy might be?

The last Pope Benedict came after Pius X, a pontiff who had cracked down on modernism.

The same is true of this Pope Benedict, coming as he does after the lengthy conservative rule of John Paul II.

In fact, in the hours before the conclave began, Ratzinger made it clear he wouldn't detour from a path of doctrinal rigidity.

On Monday, just before the conclave began, Ratzinger, as dean of the College of Cardinals, gave a homily at a morning Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. He urged his fellow cardinals to defend traditional doctrine and not become sidetracked by modern trends.

"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labelled today as a fundamentalism," Ratzinger.

"Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards.

"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires."

But, like the last Benedict, this new Pope with the same name may find himself facing global turbulence, complexity and violence.

When he was first elected in 1914, Benedict XV came to the Vatican with a reputation of a respected diplomat. Despite that, he had little success stopping the daunting destruction and death unleashed by the First World War.

Benedict tried, but failed, to broker a so-called "Christmas truce" in 1914, to stop what he called "the suicide of Europe." When that failed, his influence waned both inside Italy and across Europe.

After the war the Vatican, under Benedict's leadership, was excluded from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

Today, though, many see his leadership in a different light.

"Benedict the 15th has, in many ways, been one of the most neglected popes of the 20th century. He was a remarkable man," President Michael Higgins of St. Jerome's University, told CTV News.

Higgins noted that Benedict has recently been rediscovered through biographical and historical works, "and he's been called the great peace pope of our time."

"So perhaps Cardinal Ratzinger will take his cue from that, and will recognize the importance of peace. Not only globally, but peace within the church itself."

And already, the work of the new papacy has begun.

"Dear brothers and sisters after the great Pope, John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard," Pope Benedict said on Tuesday.

"The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers."

As Benedict XVI, his name will be known worldwide. But what exactly what will be said about his papacy is still an open book.