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Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism University of Southern California
Nation/World

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio Elected Pope

Habemus Papam -- Pope Francis.

Pope Francis I appears in front of the public for the first time. (Vatican TV)
Pope Francis I appears in front of the public for the first time. (Vatican TV)
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope at just past 7 p.m. Rome time.  He is the first South American and Jesuit pope.

He will be known as Pope Francis.

Bergoglio, 76, is the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. 

This is the first time in 600 years that an election has been held because of a pope's resignation. Most elections occur as a result of a pope's death during his papacy.

The 115 cardinals participating in the election process this year began by taking an oath of secrecy.

After this oath, the first voting process began. Each cardinal cast one vote, and could not vote for himself.

In order to be elected, a candidate for the papacy must receive two-thirds of the total vote.

This voting process continues with two votes in the morning and two in the afternoon, for five consecutive days, or until a pope has been chosen.

The voting process is revealed to the public when the ballots are burned at the end of each voting round.

Francis was elected at 7:06 p.m. Rome time.  He appeared on the Vatican balcony just over an hour later.

The Vatican revealed that 5,600 journalists received accreditation to cover the event and reveal the decision of the cardinals.

There are approximately 1.2 billion Roman Catholics who were awaiting the decision.

COMMENTS

Congratulations, Josh Woo, not only on correctly identifying Francis as "the first South American" pope, but on failing to avoid another trap of papal punditry, adding a superfluous "I" after his name. You are aware that numerals are only added after a subsequent pope takes the same name! Your colleagues at Neon Tommy could benefit from ATVN's attention to details.

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