Crowd in St. Peter’s Square joyously welcomes Pope Francis
The tens of thousands of rain-drenched pilgrims who filled St. Peter's Square March 13 joyously cheered the new leader of the church, Pope Francis. Cheers of "Francesco! Francesco! Francesco!" resounded throughout the square as he greeted the exuberant crowd in Italian and blessed them from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
Latin Americans say pope’s election is recognition of global South
Latin Americans said the election of the first pope from the region is recognition of the role the global South plays in the church's future. Pope Francis, the 76-year-old Argentine who served as archbishop of Buenos Aires as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, comes as both a surprise and a source of hope for Latin American Catholics.
Text of Pope Francis’ remarks from balcony after his election
Brothers and sisters, good evening. You know that the task of the conclave was to give Rome a bishop. It seems my brother cardinals went almost to the ends of the earth to find one.
Old story about then-Cardinal Bergoglio: ‘Church remains sanctified through Eucharist’
In looking for more information on Pope Francis I, I came across this story from Catholic News Service from 2010. It's a beautiful mediation on the Holy Eucharist.
New pope ‘figure of unity’ for all Catholics, says USCCB president
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, congratulated the newly elected pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, who took the name Francis.
Argentine Cardinal Bergoglio elected pope, takes name Francis
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.
White smoke: Cardinals elect new pope on fifth ballot
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.
Argentine Cardinal Bergoglio was second on each ballot in last conclave
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 on morning of conclave’s first full day
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.
Speculation, suspense: Italian media rife with papal predictions
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.