Robert identifies as Leo

[Seb]

[Mouse]

The funny thing is that I heard bits of the story about the new pope being called Leo. I assumed that that was his real name and thought "Oh they will be changing that to something more pope like".....Turns out they have had many "Leos" as pope!

[Modoc]

One of the many things I don't understand is why the Pope has to get a new name. I think that happens with nuns as well.

[Barleymower]

What do you call an Italian with a rubber toe?

Roberto!

[Myopic Bookworm]

One of the many things I don't understand is why the Pope has to get a new name. I think that happens with nuns as well.

The pope doesn't have to. The custom developed gradually. When in the 6th century a man named Mercurius was elected pope, he felt that such a blatantly pagan name was inappropriate, and named himself John II. A few years later, John III (Catelinus) did the same, then John XII (Octavian) in the 9th century. A man called Peter (Pietro) also presumably thought it best not to use the name of the first bishop of Rome, and became John XIV (983). Then Bruno (Gregory V, 996) and Gerbert (Sylvester II, 999) also picked alternative names. Two popes reigned under their personal names as John XVII and John XVIII (both named Giovanni, 1003-1009), but then another Peter was elected, took the name Sergius IV, and only a tiny handful of popes have reigned under their personal name since then, the last being Marcellus II (1555). (Apart from the compound John-Paul, Francis was actually the first pope to introduce a new regnal name that wasn't his own; the last pope to use a new name reigned under his own name as Pope Lando.)
[End of nerd infodump.]

Monks and nuns often take a new name at profession to signify their radical change of life. So do some converts to Eastern Orthodoxy at baptism.

[JohnH]

I was wondering why there wasn't a pope from the US. As pointed out, popes typically take on different name when they assume office. So, there could have been a pope that could take on the name of Bubba. Imagine: Pope Bubba I. And if he came from a southeastern state such as Alabama, he could have two different robe outfits, one he wears on Sunday mornings with a miter and another one with a pointed white hood that he wears on Saturday nights.
Pope Leo XIV - whew, what a relief!

John

[FranTastic444]

On the "identifies as" bit, I found it amusing when some wag on social media picked up on some of the anti-trans stuff that Ted Cruz and Nikki Haley were spouting by referring to them by their given names of Rafael and Nimarata

[Modoc]

Imagine: Pope Bubba I. And if he came from a southeastern state such as Alabama, he could have two different robe outfits, one he wears on Sunday mornings with a miter and another one with a pointed white hood that he wears on Saturday nights.
Pope Leo XIV - whew, what a relief!

John

Not very likely, since people from the hooded crowd have a long history of being opposed to the mitered crowd. That, of course, may no longer be the case since it seems both appear to have more in common lately.