Chicago lawyer owns popefrancis.com domain name, hopes to donate it to church
Updated: A Chicago lawyer had hoped that the Roman Catholic Church might someday appoint a pope who would take the name of St. Francis of Assisi, known for his humility and service to the poor.
But Chris Connors, 39, says he never believed that was likely to happen when, in 2010, he bought the popefrancis.com domain name on a lark, since it gave the then-nonexistent pope the name of one of his favorite saints. He did, however think there might be a chance that Cardinal Francis George would wind up in the church’s top job and keep his baptismal name, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Now, of course, there is an actual Pope Francis, from Argentina rather than Chicago, and Connors says he plans to donate the popefrancis.com domain name to the church.
Since church leaders have been busy in Rome recently, Connors left a message for George at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.
“I told him that if Pope Francis wants it, he’s got it,” said Connors of the domain name. “Especially in this age with social media, it might be helpful for him if he’s going to use it. I’d like to see it used.”
As a subsequent Chicago Tribune article reports, the church accepted the gift of the domain name from Connors and the popefrancis.com site went live in May.
Updated on May 14 to include subsequent Tribune coverage.
