ROME
National Catholic Reporter
by Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 14, 2013
Rome —
The election of Argentinean Jose Mario Bergoglio as pope Wednesday night is a sign of the unity of the College of Cardinals and the belief they chose the right man to carry out the needs of the new evangelization, say two of the cardinals who were in the conclave that elected Pope Francis.
“If at the fifth vote the pope is elected, that means something,” Austrian Christoph Schönborn told NCR on Thursday morning. “That means great unity, great agreement and a real move to the one we believe that is the chosen one.”
The election is a sign the cardinals “experienced the guiding of the Holy Spirit,” he said.
Bergoglio, formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires, was elected the new bishop of Rome and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics on Wednesday evening Rome time and took the name Francis.
His election came on the fifth ballot and second day of voting among the 115 cardinals who participated in the secret election. It was a surprisingly quick conclusion to a conclave that seemed to have no clear front-runner.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.