Now this is really weird!!!! Note: The new Pope is Francis and resides at the Vatican in Rome, on the Tiber River.
Sheesh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What are the odds??????????????The History of Washington DC., District of Columbia
In 1669 "a parcell of land. . .called Rome. . .was layd out of Francis Pope. . .extending to the south of an inlet called Tiber"; this gentleman, "Pope of Rome on the Tiber", was sheriff of Charles County, and, in all probability, a Catholic. The well-known families of Carroll, Digges, Queen, and Young were the possessors of extensive landed estates before the American Revolution. There was no church in the region during the early decades of the eighteenth century, as the public exercise of Catholic worship was prohibited by the laws of Maryland:
The faithful depended for spiritual aid on the Jesuit Fathers from White Marsh, Prince George's County, or St. Thomas' Manor, Charles County. Stations were visited and Mass was celebrated in private houses, a room being set aside for the purpose, the neighbours being invited. An interesting collection of vestments, altar furnishings, chalices etc., relics of those stations and memorials of the old Jesuit missions, is preserved in the museum of Georgetown College.
Source: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15558a.htm
Note: Jesuit settlers from England founded the Province of Maryland in 1634
ADDED:
Is the White House really named after this guy?Rome, Maryland, was the original name of a community within Prince George's County, Maryland, which would eventually become Washington, District of Columbia. Specifically, Rome was the original community name of Capitol Hill, upon which the United States Capitol Building sits.
In 1663, the property that would become the Capitol's site was inscribed in the Maryland property records as Rome, its owner a man named Francis Pope. The southern boundary of this property was shaped by Tiber Creek named for the river that runs through Rome, Italy, the Tiber.
The community was part of the ten mile square tract of land which would become the American capital Washington, D.C., and its owner, Daniel Carroll, transferred the community to the federal government after the amendment to the United States Constitution sanctioning the building of the new United States capital city was ratified.
Daniel Carroll was the chairman of a three-man commission appointed by President George Washington to find a suitable location for the capital city. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, Daniel Carroll was a Roman Catholic educated by Jesuits in Maryland and France. His brother John Carroll became the first Catholic bishop in America, presiding over the See of Baltimore, which included Washington, D.C. John Carroll also founded Georgetown University.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome,_Maryland
Andrew White, S.J. (1579 December 27, 1656) was an English Jesuit missionary who was involved in the founding of the Maryland colony.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_White_(missionary)




