Meeting Pope Francis

 

Argentine cardinal selected by Catholic cardinals on second day

AP Photo: Gregorio Borgia. Pope Chosen: White smoke emerges from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday. IMAGE

  

Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church select Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope to succeed Benedict XVI.

Cardinal electors of the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday night selected Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina to succeed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and lead the church through a time of crisis.
On the second day of the conclave, thick white smoke billowed from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel and church bells rang at the Vatican, signaling to the world there is a new pontiff.
A crowd of thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square cheered wildly, and more people streamed into the square upon learning of the development. Millions of people worldwide followed the procession of events on live television and on the Internet.
Bergoglio, whose chose the papal name Pope Francis, changed into his papal white cassock, got a pledge of loyalty from the cardinals, stopped and prayed in the Pauline Chapel for a few minutes and then headed to the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square to greet the crowd. French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the protodeacon, announced "Habemus Papam!" (Latin for "We have a pope") and then introduced him to the world in Latin.
The new pope, the first from South America, then was to deliver his first public words as pontiff.
The first Mass likely will follow a few days later.
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, and he has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope.
The selection of a new spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics came after the 115 cardinals in the conclave voted twice Wednesday morning in the Sistine Chapel following an inaugural vote Tuesday. They pledged in Latin to never reveal details of the secret ballot. A two-thirds majority — 77 votes — was needed to become pope. Black smoke spewed out from the makeshift chimney Tuesday night and earlier Wednesday, meaning no pope was selected in the initial rounds.
The German-born Benedict, 85, announced unexpectedly last month that he was stepping down, saying he no longer had the strength to lead the church. He was the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

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The selection process came amid more upheaval and uncertainty than the Catholic Church has seen in decades. There was no consensus front-runner going into the process, and no sense that one man has what it takes to fix the many problems.
The next pope will face a church in crisis. Benedict spent his eight-year pontificate trying to revive Catholicism amid the secular trends that have made it almost irrelevant in places like Europe, once a stronghold of Christianity. Clerical sex abuse scandals have soured many faithful on their church, and competition from rival evangelical churches in Latin America and Africa has drawn members away.
Closer to home, the next pope has a major challenge awaiting him inside the Vatican walls, after the leaks of papal documents in 2012 exposed ugly turf battles, allegations of corruption and even a plot purportedly orchestrated by Benedict's aides to out a prominent Italian Catholic editor as gay.
The election of a pope is a centuries-old process. Since 1271, the church's highest-ranking clerics, the cardinals, have voted in a conclave — from the Latin “with a key” — which was instituted as a result of one of the longest papal vacancies in history, two years and nine months.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.