The world stopped on Thursday evening when white smoke finally started billowing out of the Sistine Chapel. American Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as the new pope, becoming the 267th pope in history, and the first American.
Prevost, who will go by Leo XIV, will succeed Pope Francis and take charge of the Roman Catholic Church.
The election came on the first full day of voting by the 133 cardinal electors, who secluded themselves behind the Vatican's medieval walls on Wednesday afternoon.
They say there’s something regal about the name Leo, and when it comes to popes, that seems to hold true. From the Dark Ages to the dawn of modernity, the papal Leos have left their claw marks on history, steering the Church through invasions, empires, Reformations, and revolutions. With 13 men having taken the name previously, some Leos roared louder than others. Here's a look at the most intriguing of the bunch.
Leo the Great: The Hun whisperer
If you’re facing down Attila the Hun, you’d better bring your A-game. Pope Leo I, later dubbed “the Great” (and one of only two popes to have that sobriquet) did just that. In 452, he famously convinced the fearsome Hun warrior to turn his armies away from Rome. No one quite knows what Leo said, but legend has it even Attila was moved.
But Leo wasn’t just a diplomatic miracle-worker. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, his Tome of Leo helped cement a foundational Christian doctrine: that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine.
A Doctor of the Church, Leo I roared his way into theological and political immortality.
Leo III: The Emperor-maker
Fast forward a few centuries to Leo III, who pulled off one of the most audacious political moves in Church history. On Christmas Day, 800 AD, he placed a crown on the head of Charlemagne and declared him Holy Roman Emperor. In doing so, Leo revived the Western Roman Empire—and set the stage for a millennium of Church-state entanglements.
His reign wasn’t without drama: after being accused of corruption and surviving an attempted assassination, he fled Rome, only to return with Charlemagne’s military muscle behind him. Call him Leo the Strategic.
Leo X: The lavish Medici who lit the fuse
Born Giovanni de’ Medici, Leo X was more Renaissance prince than austere pope. A patron of Raphael and Michelangelo, he hosted glittering banquets and saw the papacy as a stage for an opulent lifestyle.
However, Leo X’s biggest legacy came not from art, but indulgences. In 1517, his aggressive fundraising campaign for St. Peter’s Basilica, selling forgiveness for a fee, prompted a certain German monk named Martin Luther to nail 95 Theses to a church door.
Leo laughed off the monk. Within years, the Church was splintered. He may have said, “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.” History gave him a reformation instead.
Leo XIII: The philosopher pope
Skip ahead once again a few hundred years, and you’ll find Leo XIII, a pope who blended tradition with intellectual vigor. Reigning from 1878 to 1903, the third-longest pontificate in history, he issued the groundbreaking encyclical Rerum Novarum, laying the foundation for Catholic social teaching.
Leo XIII called on nations to uphold workers’ rights, balance capital and labor, and protect the dignity of the poor—radical words for a Church often seen as aloof from industrial-era struggles.
He also reopened the Vatican Archives, promoted the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, and essentially turned the Church back toward the world after years of isolation. Less flashy than Leo X, perhaps, but far more influential as far as history goes.
So, what is it about the name Leo?
It may be a coincidence, or maybe there's something in the name. Leo, Latin for lion, draws strong-willed, history-shaping men to the throne of Peter.
From theologians to tacticians, emperors to reformers (and provocateurs), the Leos remind us that papal power isn’t always quiet, nor always humble, but is often fascinating. In the midst of the 21st century, let us see how Prevost takes to the name.
