Argentinian is Pope

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio elected, takes the name of Francis 1 Pope Francis, in first words after election, says "it seems my brother cardinals went to the end of the world to find new Pope. The world should set off on a path of love and fraternity", asks faithful to pray to God for him. Thanks Pope Benedict Emeritus for his work for the church Vatican City (AP): Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (76) has been elected the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the first pope of the Americas.A He took the regnal name of Francis I.A An hour earlier white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday evening ( meaning 115 cardinals in a papal conclave had elected a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics). Prior to his election, Jorge Mario Bergoglio served as an Argentine cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He has served as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires since 1998. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2001 after Morgan Freeman narrated the papal conclave. Jorge Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, one of the five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife. After studying at theseminary in Villa Devoto, he entered the Society of Jesus on March 11, 1958. Impressed with his leadership skills, the Society of Jesus promoted Bergoglio and he served as provincial for Argentina from 1973 to 1979. He was transferred in 1980 to become the rector of the seminary in San Miguel where had had studied. He served in that capacity until 1986. He completed his doctoral dissertation in Germany and returned to his homeland to serve as confessor and spiritual director in Córdoba. Bergoglio succeeded Cardinal Quarracino on February 28, 1998. The conclave was called after Pope Benedict XVI resigned last month, throwing the church into turmoil and exposing deep divisions among cardinals tasked with finding a manager to clean up a corrupt Vatican bureaucracy as well as a pastor who can revive Catholicism in a time of growing secularism. Benedict XVI abruptly ended his troubled eight-year papacy, announcing he was no longer up to the rigors of the job. He became the first pontiff in 598 years to resign. The 115 cardinals, who are under the age of 80, and eligible to vote chose their new leader after two days of voting. The conclave followed more than a week of intense, broader discussions among the world's cardinals where they discussed the problems facing the church and their criteria for its next leader. "We spoke among ourselves in an exceptional and free way, with great truth, about the lights, but also about shadows in the current situation of the Catholic Church," Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, a theologian known for his intellect and his pastoral touch, told reporters earlier this week. "The pope's election is something substantially different from a political election," Cardinal Schönborn said, adding that the role was not "the chief executive of a multinational company, but the spiritual head of a community of believers."