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Subscribe to RSSHailing from Argentina, Cardinal Bergoglio – now Pope Francis, is known as a humble man who forgoes a chauffeur to take the bus to work. As the first Jesuit pope, it's expected Francis will encourage priests to evangelize, educating others in the Catholic faith. NBC's Anne Thompson reports
VATICAN CITY — Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected the first non-European pope in more than 1,000 years on Wednesday, signaling the beginning of a new era for a church combating scandal and internal strife.
Described as a conservative with "great compassion," the 76-year-old will be known as His Holiness Pope Francis. He will be installed at the Vatican on Tuesday.
The new pontiff named himself after the humble Catholic friar St. Francis of Assisi. President Barack Obama hailed the new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics as a "champion of the poor."
The first Latin American pope was introduced from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
There was an audible gasp from the rain-soaked crowd - an indication that he had not been a widely tipped choice - followed by a roar and wild applause.
In Italian, he seemed to address his outsider status by joking: "As you know the duty of the conclave is to give Rome a bishop. It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world."
Newly-elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio speaks to St. Peter's Square and delivers a blessing after being elected as Pope Francis I.
“Pray for me and I will see you soon," he added, asking Catholics to also pray for his predecessor Benedict XVI, who abdicated on Feb. 28. "Have a good evening and rest well.”
His first act on Thursday will be to visit his predecessor, the Pope Emeritus, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan told reporters later.
A vocal advocate for Argentina’s poor during the economic crises that struck the country during the 1970s, Francis is the first Jesuit pope.
Vote: Was Pope Francis a good choice?
Known for his humility, Francis is the son of a railway worker and one of five siblings. He has a chemistry degree.
Francis has only one fully-functioning lung, the other having been partially removed due to an infection when he was a teenager.
He prizes simplicity and is expected to encourage priests to do shoe-leather evangelization, according to his biographer.
Shortly after his election, Francis skipped the limousine and chose instead to ride on the last shuttle bus with other cardinals to go back to the Vatican for a meal.
"And as the last bus pulls up, guess who gets off? It's Pope Francis. I guess he told the driver 'That's OK, I'll just go with the boys,'" Dolan told reporters.
Later, during the dinner, Dolan said Francis showed his humorous side.
"We toasted him and when he toasted us he said: 'May God forgive you,' which brought the house down," he said.
About an hour before Francis emerged on the balcony, white smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel and bells rang out across Rome to signal a decision had been made.
The unveiling of the new pope was moment of pure joy for the 100,000 pilgrims, tourists and other onlookers in St Peter's Square.
"Who is this?" asked Deirdre Sweeney from Boston, Mass., when Francis first walked onto the balcony.
"Argentinian!" shouted a man nearby.
Americans were among the tens of thousands who gathered to witness the unveiling of Pope Francis.
“I think this is wonderful,” said Sweeney’s husband, Kevin. “It's an incredible breakthrough. It's a great recognition for the church that the church is not euro-centric anymore."
Another man shouted: "It’s very gutsy that he chose the name Francis, he’s going to be the first Francis. He wants to be a humble pope and build the church up, from a time of ruin, like St. Francis of Assisi."
Smoke billowed from the chimney at 7:07 p.m. local time (2:07 p.m. ET) on the second day of behind-closed-doors voting.
The cardinals are thought to have taken five ballots to reach the two-thirds of the vote necessary for a decision.
The new pontiff's debut was heralded by a Latin announcement beginning with the phrase "Habemus Papam!" meaning, "We have a pope!"
George Weigel, NBC News' Vatican analyst, said Francis would be "a great defender of religion around the world.”
“The papacy has moved to the New World. The church has a new pope with a new name,” he added. “I think it speaks to the church’s commitment to the poor of the world and compassion in a world that often needs a lot of healing.”
NBC News Special Report: The Vatican announces that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been elected as the new head of the Catholic Church.
Obama said the choice of the first pope from the Americas spoke "to the strength and vitality" of a region "that is increasingly shaping our world."
"Alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic day," the president said in a statement.
Now known as Pope Emeritus, Francis' predecessor Benedict watched Wednesday's events from a temporary lakeside residence at Castel Gandolfo while his permanent living quarters inside Vatican City are refurbished.
The behind-the-scenes ballot process that took place in the Sistine Chapel should still remain a secret. Both the cardinals and staff working alongside them swore an oath of secrecy as the conclave got under way, with the threat of ex-communication for anyone breaking the church's ancient code.
NBC News' Yuka Tachibana and Richard O'Kelly, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to lead the Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
Related:
Pope Francis: Humble leader who takes the bus to work
'He’s not feeble in any way': World reacts to a new pontiff
Full coverage of Pope Francis from NBC News
This story was originally published on Wed Mar 13, 2013 4:14 AM EDT
Leave a Comment:
God allows our faith in Him to be tested,Adam and Eve's faith in God was
tested,this could be true of Creationism verses Evolution.The Bible says to God
a thousand years is as a day,and a day is as a thousand years,this is not an
exact ratio,but an understanding that time is relative,even to God,God works
within time and outside of time.On Mars a year is over 400 days,while on earth a
year is over 365 days.God could have Created Evolution,everything being Created
over a period of time,time being relative,even to God.We tend to grow in the
Holy Spirit over time,not all at once,and it's our responsibility to do so,to
have this kind of faith in God.
For people claiming that religion is arrant nonsense and a waste of time, atheists sure seem to spend a lot of time reading about it. Why do they feel such a constant, pressing need to attack religion? Perhaps they're not quite as sure about their beliefs as they'd like to think. All that vitriol against God may well indicate growing desperation in attempting to convince themselves.
I attack religion because oftentimes it is the moral and civilized thing to do. Teaching lies to children is not commensurate with the 21st century, or shouldn't be.
I have no vitrol against your god! Do you have vitriol against Zeus? How can you? I don't think your god exists! lol, how can I hate something like that? But I do hate people who protect pedophiles as a matter of written policy! And so should you.
I attack atheists ....because it's the civilized thing to do.Believe or not, your choice, but to rant continuously about those that do is a life long waste of time....16,000 atheists, 7 billion believers world population...who do you think is going to win?....most atheists are sociopathic or demented because they have to justify their lack of a moral compass....they reject religion mostly because it doesn't fit their deviant lifestyles...again you have a choice......as do i .
Wonder if they will elect a black pope.?
A black pope is a possibility. I don't think that skin color will be a deciding factor.
May God and Satan, not be troubled too long arguing over their worthless souls! Worms in the temple! There is bad apples in every bunch. I'm not Catholic but can understand the problem with these morally bankrupt people and the damage they do to the children and their church that put trust in them.
I'm glad the major news networks can't shut up about this worthless sh!t, especially when our rights are being eroded right and left on a daily basis, but yet you never hear a peep about it up here.
Burn in hell MSNBC, Fox, and ABC. You're worthless.
I am no papal expert so this is just a suspicion I have. This is NOT going to be an easy thing and not quick. It may go more than even the three day average time it takes. The question is why. 1/2 of the cardinals have been chosen by conservative popes and has been their rancid history the church is dominated by conservatives who want to see nothing much change. And worse the pedophilia shows just how entrenched the conservative mindset is. They are and want to be in TOTAL denial and send pedophile priests around to save the reputation of the church at all costs. Then there is the other half probably more reform oriented which is of course TOTALLY what it needed.
It reminds me of the conservative religious fanatics in the US that deny climate change, think man walked with dinosaurs and that the earth is 6000 years old instead of over 4 BILLION years old that science tells us unequivocally. EVIDENCE is eschewed by them because they are SO invested in a sky god creation it BLINDS the truth and really hurts us all.
Likewise denying the truth of an abundance of not only pedophiles but adult homosexuals makes gives hypocrisy a new meaning. Even the homosexual priests come out strongly against this DNA driven thing. Kind of like Craig from Idaho saying he "is not gay and never has been gay" then gets arrested in a sting in the men's room he says because of his "wide stance" EVER SO WIDE. It's a joke.
Man and his culture that is modern man has evolved of course for over 400,000 years, lowest estimate. He lesser cousins have been here MUCH longer -- MILLIONS of years. When man denies science like the earth being the center of the galaxy despite proof positive as night and day says the opposite. I would venture to say some conservatives if you ask them either would not know or would say earth is the center. What does this do? It retards a culture and ultimately WILL make it extinct. Science, nature etc. have the last word and it will ultimately kill us no matter what the sky god people think.
So too with the church. If they do NOT reform the pews in the western world WILL wither as they already have. Catholics should take a cue from that. The church is a dying institution. It will take time for it to die because evolution too takes the element of much time but it WILL happen. As people become smarter, the Internet prevails they cannot deny that a virus causes the common cold and is NOT the will of some magic power! In sum the church is DIVIDED as the cardinals show. It is 50/50 probably and like the US elections run right down the middle and t he Congress is stuck in the mud split. So is the Vatican!
I'm not religious but,,,,,,, GO HOME....
I don't think I've agreed with your posts before, but I agree with much of what you said and how you said it. Thanks for taking the time to express your thoughts.
I wish I was inside theVatican. I would love to smoke some a that stuff too ! No wonder nobody comes out. The white smoke is when all that black smoke stuff is all smoked up. Then you just lite up a sigarette wich produces white smoke. The party is over go tell them fools we have a Pope. They believe in the Pope..nobody cares about God himself.
This is truly one of the more bizarre spectacles of man. Which old, decrepit, celibate(?) man will they pick to make decrees that the majority of church members will choose not to follow?
In the past 2000 years mankind has come to understand what pollution is and that it is wrong to pollute the air, water, and land. Since the popal conclave is participating in the ridiculous use of smoke signals, it is showing callous disregard for the planet that God created and assigned to man to care for.
Displaying a black flag or white flag would serve the same purpose and not end up contaminating people's lungs.
So, I guess your going to freeze to death in the winter and sweat to death in the summer.
I guess you won't be driving your car anymore either......... What about that radiation oven you use.?
I'm talking about unnecessary pollution. The Catholic Church in perpetuating this archaic means of voting is in effect saying "my way or the highway". Looks like they never heard of "carbon footprint".
Pollution is pollution is pollution..........
No point in inviting you to a BBQ is there?
You're worried about a couple cubic yards of smoke?
You do know that the carbon footprint used to make that computer your clacking away on used so much more pollution to make that a little bit of smoke coming out of the Vatican.
But I guess that's OK, right? Do as I say and not as I do is your motto, correct?
Change your name from Reader to Hypocrite.
reader.,#36.0,
The Vatican did offer to switch to white cotton and soot covered cotton as signals.
But, BHO would not agree to share a 747 with Michelle on the next vacation, in exchange.
Yep you're right, Vatican's fault.
...
Blue smoke means we need more altar boys.
...
Isn't it mind boggling how we never hear anything from the parents of these molested by the priest.
I think they are going to string this game as long as they can because after all they traveled so far they just can't do this overnight.
To me nobody deserves this job because they never admitted to me all the horrible things that went on in the church so who ever gets the job is a molester.
All of this to me is waste of money and time and so fake it makes me want to vomit.
But yet here you are....
It would be nice if these daily articles were less repetitious, and with so many sniping comments here, I'll leave you all with a short poem by Hillaire Belloc, "May all my enemies go to Hell, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel." That should cover just about everyone on Earth in one way or another.
A note slipped under the door at the conclave read " Need more Salsa and running low on Tequila. We're OK on chips though"
This whole process is such a comical charade, just like very other decision made by the Catholic Church. The proceedings should be 100% transparent. There should be vigorous debate on the strengths and weaknesses of the top choices. Just like our government, cameras should be there to capture every word so that there is an understanding as to why a particular Cardinal was chosen to religiously lead over ONE BILLION people.
But, no, there are Latin phrases being chanted, closed door and silent meetings, the ridiculousness of puffs of white and black smoke. And, amazingly, the sheep stand with tongues out, salivating like a bunch of 9th grade boys reading the bra section of the Sears catalog.
Religion is the one thing that can make an adult act and think like a complete child.
Would you welcome the devil into your home.?
I can't, since one doesn't exist.
With all the evil in the world, can you prove he doesn't exist.?
You don't have to prove a negative. The burden is to prove the positive.
save the little boys, say no to pope
You need to save yourself.?
Ever since Eden when man's flesh was tempted by Satan man believing he can be like God andd know good and evil as God bringing death to man,his sinful nature has been his flesh.And in wars it becomes more evident,as man's sinful nature is on display believing he can be as God and know good and evil as God seeking to kill evil in wars when the soul of an evil person like all souls are eternal,and so his evil can't be killed in wars of guns and bombs,man succeeding only to kill his flesh and die in his sinful nature--not realizing his only Salvation is through the Cross and Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yes, the place where a woman was formed from the rib of a man. Santa Claus is more viable.
Not all wars are foolish, no man should be controlled by another man.
Your only salvation is through your own heart.
Ever since Eden when man's flesh was tempted by Satan man believing he can be like God andd know good and evil as God bringing death to man,his sinful nature has been his flesh.And in wars it becomes more evident,as man's sinful nature is on display believing he can be as God and know good and evil as God when the Bible teaches nothing is equal to God,with man seeking to kill evil in wars when the soul of an evil person like all souls are eternal,and so his evil can't be killed in wars of guns and bombs,man succeeding only to kill his flesh and die in his sinful nature--not realizing his only Salvation is through the Cross and Gospel of Jesus Christ.
what I don't understand is if GOD talks to all these cardinals why wouldn't he just tell them who?, unless they all had tendencies for fondling young boys and GOD does not want any of them.
WOW! You need some serious help.
i think that they already know who it is and this is their chance to have a smoke out every few years
Black smoke/Vatican - part of the man-made Vatican Web of Rituals. I must say that the building's architecture is absolutely awesome - also man-made. I had to service my generator yesterday - black smoke - also man-made, but not connected to the Vatican. Pity that the Vatican is so corrupt.
By your standards everything is corrupt. So quit trying to blow smoke up peoples ass.
saf, where did you get "everything" from? I hope you realize that the Catholic Church have a PLAN to hide pedophiles...maybe you don't want people to know about it...can explain your extra sensitivity to smoke up you rump.
Yeah, A new leader for the cult of child molesters, liars and cover-ups..... smoke up your asses....
Trying to paint a whole religion as child molesters is your lie.
Being part of a group that protects criminals from the justice they deserve, and blindly following 2000-year-old lies, are your lies.
Clingers to guns and religion, all. Black smoke lends itself to many metaphors here. Whether from the ovens at Birkenau (review the Pope's role in WWII), or just otherwise blowing it up all our bottoms, black smoke indeed. For many of us survivors of CSA in this Church (at the hands and other body parts of male homosexuals), we've had our share of black smoke over much of our lives, at least until we stumbled onto competent psychiatric kelp, and decided to work long and hard (sic) at recovery. For perspective on this monkey business, just compare Christ's original simple message of love with the complex degeneracy that His Church, and indeed many other organized religions, have become. I'm fine with anyone's spiritual convictions, but history shows the nonsense that gets shoveled into it all once humans (mostly men) start to organize these. Or, just compare the costly pomp of this conclave with any Quaker meeting. With further organization of the pomp, taken to levels of crazy fervor, we have Jihad, or Crusades, or Inquisitions. Sadly, we humans not only tolerate this folly, bit we tend to crave it, as in the moth and the candle's flame, which of course is precisely why we put up with it, actually paying for the privilege. This all became clear to me when I heard a lady of the cloth try to tell us all at a meeting what God thought and wanted. WHAT GOD THINKS AND WANTS! How presumptious. How so very human. I agree with a suggestion made in an earlier post here. Black smoke? Yep. Fill the Basilica with it with the A/C off and doors and windows closed tight. Real progress of a spiritual sort then. Just sayin'. Aaltarboy..
Black smoke = Black pope = Barack Obama = Pope Trojanis the First.
First paragraph of this story is misleading, the Cardinals still have 3 votes left for today.
Why do they always pick an old man, who has know clue what is happening in his church, or is the pope just a figure head, with someone eles pulling the strings?
This church needs to change and change fast, they are going to have to pick some one young and willing to make changes, plus clean up their molesters. This church will not get a dime out of me.
The pope is what you would call a lifetime achievement, can't find that in the young because it almost takes a lifetime to prove it.
There have been molesters in all walks of life not just the church, I want to know where was the parents.
Nice victim blaming. Truly, it's the parents fault for entrusting their child to someone who is typically lauded as a pillar of the community.
dave:
Your are right. If they do not change their ways and their doctrines they need to close shop. The changes needed to be made are as follows: allow priests to marry, get rid of there praying to Mary BS, get rid of their apostles creed BS, get rid of their transubstiation BS, Get rid of their pagan holy days BS, get rid of their Sunday worship BS, get rid of confessing their sins to a priest BS, get rid of their idol worship BS, get rid of their Peter founded this church BS, get rid of the title "The Holy Catholic Church" BS and I'm sure I missed a few things
Hey Daym how bout you get rid of your condecending bigotry?