VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
by Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 13, 2013
Vatican City —
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an Argentinean Jesuit who is the first in his order and the first from Latin America to hold the see of Peter, has been elected the 266th bishop of Rome and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
Appearing on a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica about an hour and 10 minutes after white smoke from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel first signaled his election, Bergoglio was introduced by his birth name with the traditional proclamation of the Latin phrase “Habemus papam” (“We have a pope”).
Then came pronouncement of the choice of his papal name: Francis.
He is the first pontiff to choose the name, likely for either the 12th-century St. Francis of Assisi, known for his simple lifestyle and dedication to the works of mercy, or for St. Francis Xavier, a 16th-century Spanish Jesuit priest known for his efforts to evangelize, particularly in Asia.
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