NATION/WORLD

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, was elected the 266th pope and took the name Francis. The election March 13 came on the first full day of the conclave on the conclave's fifth ballot. It was a surprisingly quick conclusion to a conclave that began with many plausible candidates and no clear favorite.

To the delighted surprise of many, clouds of white smoke poured from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel March 13, indicating a pope had been elected on the conclave's fifth ballot.

A respected Italian journal said Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, a 76-year-old Jesuit, was the cardinal with the second-highest number of votes on each of the four ballots in the 2005 conclave.

More black smoke poured from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel at 11:40 a.m. March 13, which seemed to indicate the 115 cardinal electors failed to elect a pope on their second and third ballots.

Online betting and trending sites were not the only outlets posting their papal predictions. Italian newspapers are historically the boldest and most confident in their daily speculations and conclave scenarios.

Despite the rain, thousands of people filled St. Peter's Square after dark March 12, the first evening of the conclave, to witness the black smoke that signaled the Catholic Church's 115 cardinal electors had failed, as expected, to elect a pope on the first ballot.

Hours before the start of the conclave that will choose the next pope, the dean of the College of Cardinals celebrated the papacy as a source of unity among Catholics and of evangelization and charitable service to the world.

Although there will only be 115 cardinals in the Sistine Chapel voting for a pope, the whole church joins them in prayer and expectation, said the archbishop who spearheaded the design of the conclave rites and prayers.

Here is an alphabetical list of the cardinal electors' first names in Latin, in the accusative case, which is likely to be that used when announcing the name of the new pope.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In their general congregation meetings, in liturgical processions and in the Sistine Chapel, every cardinal has a place and each cardinal knows his place.