A Lawyer, the Pope and a Domain Name

The title sounds like a lame joke, but this story about the newly minted Pope Francis and his soon-to-be domain name is no joke.

Chicago lawyer Chris Connors represents whistleblowers in his legal practice. He purchased the domain popefrancis.com in 2010.

You can call it divine inspiration, but Connors bought the domain in the hope that Chicago Cardinal Francis George would someday be anointed as the Pope.

He was right about the next Pope being named Francis, except that this was another Francis.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the name he took was in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who led a simple life helping the poor.

Let’s consider the odds that were stacked against a new Pope named Francis. This is the first ever Pope chosen from the Americas. Not to mention the fact that the name Francis had not been taken by any Pope in the last 2,000 years.

If Connors had decided based on these odds, he would rationally have concluded against buying the domain. But it was just a “couple of dollars” on GoDaddy, and he was motivated by the enticing prospect of hoping to see Chicago’s Cardinal become a Pope.

Connors has decided to hand over popefrancis.com to the Vatican, and is not asking for any compensation. This despite the fact that he was been contacted with offers for the domain.

Pope Francis related domains are selling like hot cakes, with Godaddy getting more than 100 “Papal” domain registrations in the first 10 minutes after the new Pope was named. Within an hour, the number of newly registered Pope Francis domains had jumped up to 479.

None of these hundreds of domains is going to attract anywhere close to the impact and publicity generated by Connors’ purchase. It shows that being first in line still counts in the domain business, coupled with a bit of luck and maybe some heavenly assistance.