CNN
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Leo is now tied for the fourth most common name chosen by popes, along with Clement. Only John, Gregory and Benedict have proven more popular.
But we haven’t had a Pope Leo in more than a century.
The last Pope Leo was Leo XIII, who was born in French-occupied Rome in 1810. He served as pope from 1878 until his death in 1903, making his 25-year papacy the fourth longest in the church’s history.
Leo XIII is remembered as a pope of Catholic social teaching. He wrote a famous open letter to all Catholics in 1891, called “Rerum Novarum” (“Of Revolutionary Change”). The pamphlet reflected on the destruction wrought by the Industrial…
