SHOW NOTES FOR “A CALENDAR OF GREGORIES”

1. The bracket is back! Paul’s application of March Madness oddsmaking to the name and fame of popes throughout history returns in this episode. Co-hosts Paul and Bill, after completing a tour of popes called Leo, now look at Pope Gregory, a popular name that appeared in sixteen iterations. This makes for an informative roller coaster ride through the past.

2. This chain started out with a man actually born as Gregory. He chose to be Pope Gregory I and ruled in the Vatican in the years 590-604, but the Catholic Church has chosen to call him Gregory the Great. He did much to shape the Church of the Dark Ages and Medieval times. He was a great administrator, even helping to “orchestrate” the development of Gregorian Chant. He is a canonized saint.

3. Gregory II reigned in 715-731. He was one of the popes dealing with warring European factions and with the rise of Islam. He is a canonized saint.

4. Gregory III, whose term was 731-741, addressed issues such as iconoclasm, a penchant among some European Catholic factions as well as in Islam.

5. Paul goes on to tell tales of Gregory IV (827-844) and of Gregory V (996-999), who was the first German pope, and of Gregory VI (1045-1046). This simoniac resigned a year before his death.

6. Gregory VII (1073-1085) was born Hildebrand of Sovana. This great reformer is a canonized saint. Gregory VIII ruled for two months in 1187.

7. Gregory IX (1227-1241) was followed by Gregory X (1271-1276) and by Gregory XI (1370-1378), who was the last French pope and the last pope to reign in Avignon as the holy see.

8. Gregory XII (1406-1415) He was the last of the Roman line during the Western Schism (1378–1417), when the papacy was contested by antipopes in Avignon (France) and in Pisa (Italy).

9. Gregory XIII (1572-1585) promulgated the Gregorian Calendar.

10. Gregory XIV had a short tenure in 1590-1591. Then came Gregory XV (1621-1623).

11. Gregory XVI (1831-1846) presided over debates on how to handle the future of the papal states, and he supported traditional monarchies in Europe, says Britannica. He was the last pope named Gregory.

12. The classic papal name Gregory provides a throughline for viewing immense change between the secular and the sacred, spanning conflict and continuity in the first and second millennia of the Common Era. The calendar changed, but the Church is still here.

Photo: Unidentified, San Gregorio Magno, 18th century, carved and painted wood, 27 1⁄2 x 9 5⁄8 x 9 1⁄4 in. (69.8 x 24.5 x 23.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Teodoro Vidal Collection, 1996.91.58A-B

Leo - Episode P2

Artwork: by Francesco Solimena - Web Gallery of Art: Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

1. “That’s So Second Millennium” retains its online longevity, posting this 149th episode. We invite listeners to keep returning with us to our past-present-future perspectives on the world’s third millennium (Anno Domini or Common Era). Former college professor Dr. Paul Giesting (call him Paul) resumes and expands his discussion of the “pope name bracket” he created, inspired partly by the 2025 basketball season but well-informed by the Church’s remarkable past.

2. In this podcast’s new season of episodes, which began with Papal Names Bracket—Part 1, we continue our review of popes’ names in context, including the popularity of certain names. It’s a handy launch pad for a quick and insightful tour of history.

3. See below the database Paul established as a guide to our sweeping review of the au courant name “Leo.” Like the “TSSM” podcast, it keeps popping up!

4. (Paul credits assistance from The Catholic Encyclopedia, still authoritative though first published in 1914 and preserved and presented at the New Advent website. As a valuable resource, it too keeps popping up.)

5. Pope St. Leo I "The Great" 440-461 - of the Tome and the pacification of Attila the Hun

Pope St. Leo II 682-3

Pope St. Leo III 795-816 - who crowned Charlemagne in 800

Pope St. Leo IV 847-853

Pope Leo V 903?

Pope Leo VI 928-9

Pope Leo VII 936-9

Pope Leo VIII 964-5

Pope Leo IX (Bruno) 1049-54 - early reformer in an era of simony and clerical incontinence

Pope Leo X (Giovanni de Medici) 1513-1521 - Renaissance pope at the time of Luther

Pope Leo XI (Alessandro de Medici) 1605

Pope Leo XII (Annibale della Genga) 1823-1829

Pope Leo XIII (Gioacchino Pecci) 1878-1903 - Author of Rerum Novarum

1. Paul inserts this personal comment about his presentation, recorded Jan. 17, 2026, before the historical tour begins: Please pardon the awkward insertion of "from Irenaeus of" [Lyon] into the episode toward the end...I had originally, mistakenly, called him Ignatius...and a few oddly timed pauses where I took the opportunity to blank out some even more excessive than usual "uhs". I miss podcasting and being in the classroom to keep me sharper on my speaking skills.

2. Note that Pope Leo XIII and our present-day Pope Leo XIV are scholars of the Catholic Church’s Canon Law. You can read the entire tome here. Now that’s transparency!

3. Bill Schmitt concludes the episode with his co-host contributions, kindly appended to the podcast by producer Paul. Bill’s dual focus is the context of Pope Leo XIII’s huge contributions and their relevance to these days of Leo XIV. Leave it to Bill to segue from profound Church history to the subject of Greenland.

4. You can read Bill’s ongoing “Phronesis in Pieces” commentaries—on the intersection of Catholic values, public affairs, and trends in communications—at billschmitt.substack.com and at OnWord.net.

1. Dr. Paul Giesting and Bill Schmitt welcome listeners back for new episodes of our “legacy” podcast, “That’s So Second Millennium.” See below for biographies. Check out our archived episodes: That's So Second Millennium

2. Here’s a chronological list of popes. For context in this episode, start with Pope Leo XIII (#256) and look through the 20th century for Popes Pius X, XI, and XII. (Please forgive a couple of small historical and mathematical mistakes--at one point Paul says something amounting to 5+7 make 11 or 4+7 make 12.)

3. What’s in a name? Paul has developed a sports-inspired bracket for papal names and their likelihood, with 64 possibilities. We'll digitize it and post it in connection with the next episode.

4. Papal tiara logo borrowed from The Mad Monarchist.

5. Pope Leo XIV conforms with Paul’s bracket prediction of the “top seed”: With the passing of Pope Francis, Leo was the most likely name to be chosen.

6. Scholars have called the 1660-1836 period as “the long 18th century” in English literature. They point to a “long 19th century” between 1750 and 1914.

7. Here’s one take on why Cardinal Robert Prevost chose Leo as his papal name. Leo is now the fourth-most common papal name in history along with Clement. The only more popular names are John, Benedict, and Gregory.

8. Would you like to read the book—Their Name is Pius—that Paul read in his youth? Amazon says it doesn’t come cheap.

9. You can also read Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars.

10. Pope Leo XIV has called for a new Rerum Novarum, according to the Aleteia news site.

11. Here’s the bio of St. Francis Xavier, missionary and one of the original seven Jesuits.

12. Yes, there was a Pope Lando, reigning in the years 913-914.

13. Pope Julius I, a canonized saint, reigned in 337-352.

Updated bio of Bill Schmitt: Bill Schmitt is a journalist, educator, and marketing communications specialist who has been an adjunct professor of English and media at several schools, most recently Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, IN. He served on the communications staff of the University of Notre Dame from 2003 to 2017, managing many projects and joining in a wide range of multimedia, interdisciplinary collaborations. Since then, his freelance work has included feature-writing, editing, podcasting, and blogging, with much of his work centered on the Catholic faith. Bill holds a BA from Fordham University and an MPA from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Find his work at billschmitt.substack.com, OnWord.net, and billschmitt-onword on Linked-In.

Paul felt it was important to put Daniel's book title in the episode title, but Bill's suggested title is too good not to place somewhere:

TSSM: NEW BOOK EXPLORES MEANING IN MOTION

1. In this new episode of the “That’s So Second Millennium” podcast, your host Paul Giesting, assistant professor of mathematics and sciences at Wyoming Catholic College, interviews his faculty colleague, Dr. Daniel Shields, assistant professor of philosophy. Shields’s book, Nature and Nature’s God: A Philosophical and Scientific Defense of Aquinas’s Unmoved Mover Argument, has just been released by Catholic University of America Press and is available for purchase here.
2. This discussion is tailor-made for these two Catholic scholars who bring broad scientific and philosophical knowledge, plus fervor for conversations at the intersection of multiple disciplines, to their research and teaching. It is also tailor-made for the “TSSM” podcast, which seizes this golden opportunity for a curtain-call while remaining on official hiatus. The podcast generated about 150 episodes between 2018 and 2022, with co-host Bill Schmitt. They focused on the intersection, incorporating everyday life and the pursuit of virtuous wisdom—past, present, and future.
3. Shields makes reference to Dr. Robert C. Koons, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. Koons wrote a review of Nature and Nature’s God, praising its integration of natural philosophy and metaphysics. The book combines scientific knowledge with insights into the writing of St. Thomas Aquinas.
4. Shields and Giesting go into depth on Aquinas’s proofs for the existence of God, especially his favored “first way”—arguing our cosmos filled with motion needs an “unmoved mover” at its origin (and beyond). The discussion elaborates on the idea that God keeps everything in motion.
5. The book, Shields explains, goes on to apply natural philosophy and metaphysics to such subjects as statistical mechanics, contemporary cosmology, and even biology.
6. Through it all, Shields and Giesting make mention of many historical figures, from Aristotle to Copernicus to Newton to Maimonidesto Helmholtz. Present-day references include Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, known as the Pope’s Astronomer, and quantum physics scholar Sean Carroll.

1. The co-hosts announce that the TSSM podcast, now posting our 146th episode, will begin a hiatus, but all programs and show notes will continue to be archived and accessible.
2. This episode allows Dr. Paul Giesting and Bill Schmitt to look back on their four-and-a-half years of interviews and discussions seeking a greater synthesis of knowledge: an exploration of science and religion, philosophy and spirituality, neuroscience and quantum physics, policies and principles, history and the future, to better understand ourselves and the values and virtues in our lives. Our curiosity and concerns are grounded in our experiences as cradle Catholics, a confidence that faith and reason can grow together as essentials for problem-solving wisdom, and a desire to honor the Church a central source of guidance and continuing growth.
3. Our first episode was posted on April 2, 2018, more than four-and-a-half years ago. We have welcomed a long list of well-known guests with expertise in a variety of fields, seizing the opportunity for rigorous but highly accessible, interdisciplinary and inspirational, conversations that transcend silos of specialization. We are grateful for the grand adventure of pursuing truth and reality, both visible and invisible, with the scholars and thought-leaders who shared their insights.
4. That’s So Second Millennium was the first podcast to provide structured news coverage and commentary on the conferences and lectures of the Society of Catholic Scientists, and we interviewed a number of SCS members. Both Paul and Bill have been members of the growing, international organization.
5. Paul, who holds a PhD in Geology from the University of Notre Dame, presented a lecture on uranium and nuclear power at the SCS 2022 conference in Chicago.
6. In this episode, we made references to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and to “Sing God a Simple Song”—from Leonard Bernstein’s

• We talked about Wyoming Catholic College, where Paul is on the faculty, and we talked Holy Cross College, where Bill taught as an adjunct professor for three semesters before moving from South Bend, IN, to Troy, NY, in 2022. Both solidly Catholic colleges, we agreed, excel in their efforts to integrate the different aspects of our humanity and the various forms of knowledge within the hearts and minds of students.
• Paul and Bill are inveterate Catholic communicators and educators. Learn more about Paul’s background in teaching, consulting, and public service. Learn more about Bill’s life as writer-editor, broadcaster-blogger, and author.
• Here are some of the people we have been privileged to interview: SCS president Stephen Barr; planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine; astrophysicist and astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ; theologian Paul Seongh Chung; Magis Center president and EWTN series host Father Robert Spitzer, SJ; astrochemist Karin Oberg; neurobiologist Maureen Condic; speaker-evangelist Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers; pro-life experts Richard Doerflinger and Christopher Bell; geologist Anne Hofmeister; cybersecurity expert Michael Cloud; psychologist Darcia Narvaez; business professor-author Anjan Thakor; and soul and spiritual musician Micki Miller. Learn more about them in the show notes accompanying their TSSM episodes. Thanks also to our friend, composer and performer Vin Marquardt, for writing our podcast’s closing theme for a long time, “Igneous Grok.”

1. Paul and Bill welcomed Paul Seungoh Chung to discuss how people can converse constructively about God despite their different backgrounds and different faith journeys. Dr. Chung, who has taught Christianity and science courses at the University of Toronto, is the author of God at the Crossroads of Worldviews: Toward a Different Debate about the Existence of God (University of Notre Dame Press, 2016).
2. He also produces a podcast, “What Do You Mean God Speaks?”—a presentation of his ongoing research and reflection for a second manuscript. His compelling comments, citing Bible stories and other resources, aim to follow up on the book’s hopeful message: When two persons seeking God along different paths find a crossroads where they can share key ideas, how do they take the next steps to pursue meaning and purpose through further spiritual and intellectual inquiry? The crossroads “sets the frame to start the journey,” he explained in our interview.
3. Dr. Chung holds a Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion from Fuller Theological Seminary. He earned a Master of Religion degree from Wycliffe College, an evangelical graduate school rooted in the Anglican tradition at the University of Toronto. As an undergraduate at the University of Toronto – University of Trinity College, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and philosophy.
4. He has served as a pastor at local churches in Toronto and has worked with a mission organization, Canada Mosaic Christian Alliance.
5. Dr. Chung’s references during our conversation included the philosophical insights of Alasdair MacIntyre at the University of Notre Dame, the concept of “paradigm shifts” described by philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn, and the atheistic argumentation of physicist Stephen Hawking.

This month's episode focuses on the psychology of emotions and the need to respect them. On the one hand we do not want to be controlled by negative emotions, but on the other, we cannot simply will them away. Further, we need positive emotions in order to live rich and loving lives; we cannot simply force our way forward forever.

Not respecting our emotions leads them to hijack us in many ways. A notable example is compulsive behavior or obsessions. The extreme versions of these we call addictions.

Matthew and Chantal developed their emotional fitness practice in order to reach people across a variety of cultural and economic backgrounds in South Africa, children in particular. Learn more about Matthew and Chantal's work at 5th Place.

Note: Paul received a one month access pass to the 5th Place class on emotional fitness prior to recording this episode. Nothing else of monetary value was exchanged.

For August Paul interviewed Scott Gazzoli of the Causing the Effect podcast. He's a wealth manager in Brooklyn who has been through a long and harsh spiritual journey. We touch on fitness and the psychology of achievement and spend the most time talking about the deceptiveness of material goals--money, sex, physical pleasure--how spiritually and psychologically they turn out to be deceptive and destructive.

Be sure to check out:

Scott: Causing the Effect Podcast, on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram

Our interview

Scott's recommended read, Mindfulness in Plain English