UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph
By Damien McElroy, and Donna Bowater
9:17PM GMT 13 Mar 2013
At the outset of the conclave, few Vatican watchers were even ranking Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergogio as the top Argentine candidate. The 76-year old had been overshadowed by his fellow countryman Leonardo Sandri, 69, a Vatican diplomat.
But having trailed second in every ballot to Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires triumphed at the fifth ballot to chose his successor, becoming the first ever Jesuit to ascend to the throne of St Peter as well as the first from outside Europe.
Pope Francis has been a cardinal since 2001 and has won admirers for his humble style of life. “His own simplicity of life, I think will be a great example to people,” said Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the former archbishop of Westminister. “For many people this may be a surprise election but for me it is inspired and I am very very happy, not only for the Catholic Church, but for the world.”
The son of a railway worker, the new Pope is a trained chemist. He has reportedly become less active in recent years due to his age and the effects of having a lung removed when he suffered an infection as a teenager.
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