Puffs of white smoke were seen coming from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel chimney at 2:05 PM EDT Wednesday. The crowd cheered knowing that a pope was finally selected. The new elected pope was formerly known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Buenos Aires.
He will be called Pope Francis I.
Francis, 76, is the first non-European pope elected by the Roman Catholic Church in over 1,200 years and is the 266th pontiff. Two days of conclave meetings and five rounds of voting since Tuesday afternoon led to Francis receiving 77 out of 115 votes.
Pope Francis I delivered his first address from the balcony and prayed for the church.
"As you know, the duty of the conclave was to appoint a bishop of Rome. It seems to me that my brother cardinals have chosen one who is from far away, but here I am 'for your embrace,' " Francis said. "First and foremost, I would like to pray for our emeritus pope, Benedict XVI. Let us pray all of us together ... so that he's blessed by the Lord and guarded," he said, leading the crowd in prayer.
As the Huffington Post reports, Francis is described as a humble man who traded living an archbishop's palace for a small room in a Buenos Aires.
"His name choice says a lot. St. Francis spearheaded a new evangelicalism and was a man of simplicity and humility," said Rev. Raymond J. Kupke, an adjunct professor of church history at Seton Hall University.
The reputation of the Vatican must be confronted, including internal political issues such the release of confidential documents to the media, a scandal referred to in many nations as "VatiLeaks."
"Francis fills the bill in many regards. Latin American with Italian background, archbishop of one of world's largest diocese, rector of a seminary," said Kupke.
This is a key moment for the Roman Catholic Church after a time when numerous scandals have been tied to the Vatican during former Pope Benedict's papacy.
