There’s a new pope in town. White smoke rose from the Conclave at 7:07 p.m. local time in Rome, signaling the selection of a new leader to the 1.2 billion Catholics around the world. At 8:12, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was introduced as Pope Francis the First.
“We’re going to see in this guy a reformer. He’s going to take the church in a different direction,” said CTV papal commentator Father Michael Bechard.
Born in Argentina in 1936 to an immigrant from Italy, Bergoglio is the third pope in a row who is not of Roman descent after 455 years of Roman leadership. However, he is the first Pope from outside of Europe.
Tony Dolfo-Smith, a Catholic living in Vancouver, described him as “a man of the people, quite orthodox while also being progressive.” The new Pope has a reputation for simplicity, following in the tradition of the saint after whom he is named. He is known for taking the bus and cooking his own meals while living in a simple apartment rather than an archbishop’s palace.
After being introduced to the crowd, which was at least 50,000 strong, Pope Francis I said: “First and foremost I would like to pray for our emeritus Pope Benedict XVI that Christ and the Madonna watch over him.
“Let us begin this journey together, this journey for the Roman Catholic Church. It’s a journey of friendship and love and faith between us. Let us pray for one another, let us pray for all the world.”
He added: “I’d ask you to pray to God so that he can bless me,” before leading them in a silent prayer.
The Globe and Mail outlines a few reasons he was chosen: “In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly. Bergoglio is known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America.”
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