Newly elected Pope Francis, formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina
Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been elected as the new pope. He appeared on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica to cheers from tens of thousands of the faithful, after stopping to pray in the Pauline Chapel for a few minutes.
White smoke rising from the conclave at the Vatican signalled a decision had been reached on the new head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. His appearance came after French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the protodeacon, announces "Habemus Papum" - "We have a pope" - and gave the name of the new pontiff in Latin. Those gathered outside the Vatican broke into cheers as the white smoke indicated the new pontiff had obtained the required two thirds majority in the fifth round of voting by 115 cardinals over two days.
The quick election was a surprise given there was no clear front-runner going into the vote - and the upheaval in the church prompted by Pope Benedict XVI's resignation last month. His departure threw the church into turmoil and exposed deep divisions among cardinals tasked with finding a manager to clean up a Vatican bureaucracy embroiled in recent scandals.
The pope's Twitter account, whose profile was changed to read 'Sede Vacante' when Benedict stepped down, has now been switched back to 'Pontifex'.
Culled from: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pope-white-smoke-vatican-city-181450871.html
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