Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina elected new pope:He has chosen the name Pope Francis I.

(Photo courtesy: abs6albany.com)

Vatican City:  Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina has been elected as the new pope of the Catholic Church.

He has chosen the name Pope Francis I.

The 266th pope of the Church appeared for the first time at the balcony of the Basilica and addressed hundreds and thousands of cheering people.

He asked the faithful to pray for him. Cheers erupted as he gave a blessing.

His name was announced almost after an hour the white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, suggesting that the College of Cardinals have chosen the successor of Benedict XVI.
He is the first cardinal from Latin America and first Jesuit to become a pope.

Bergoglio, 76, has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests.

The archbishop of Buenos Aires reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election.

The new pontiff has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope.

In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly.

He is known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America.

The 115 cardinals have been in isolation since Tuesday and held four inconclusive votes.

At least 77 of them, or two-thirds, would have had to vote for a single candidate for him to be elected Pope.

Before the conclave began, there was no clear frontrunner to replace Benedict.

Source: BBC/ The globe and mail