The Roman Catholic church has its first non-European pope: Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, now to be known as Pope Francis I. He was elected the 266th successor to St. Peter and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics on Wednesday after five ballots.
Appearing on a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, French Cardinal Jean-Louise Tauran introduced Pope Francis by his birth name with the traditional proclamation of the Latin phrase “Habemus papam“ (“We have a pope”). NCR promises to update their breaking news, as will other organizations.
Just a minor clarification: first non-European pope in the contemporary era. I am very excited about his choosing Francis as his name.