Many Russian media have misrendered the surname Prevost, reading it as French, no doubt out of an idea of the pontiff's French background, but since the Pope is, after all, an American, and there is nothing French about him…

"Prévost" would be correct had he come from a French-speaking colony. In his own country he was Prevost, and this seemingly suited him well enough. At any rate, one will be able to put the question to him in person and find out whether he, in honouring his ancestor named Prévost, who once left France, wishes to be called so as well.

But, humanly speaking, it would be interesting to understand one day why people so dislike admitting that they are wrong. Who are these infallible editorial teams, whose mistaken opinion is equated with the absolute?

It brings to mind a friend's schoolteacher, who used to tell her: your name does not exist! To argue, naturally, was pointless.