Jorge Mario Bergoglio is Pope Francis

Argentina's Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected Pope by the College of Cardinals, becoming the first Latin American, the first Jesuit, and the first Pope Francis, now the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

A few would have predicted him elected, although he was a runner-up to 2005's conclave which put Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI.

The 76-year-old pontiff appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica over an hour after the white smoke poured from a chimney of the roof of the Sistine Chapel.

French cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran announced Bergoglio's choice with the Latin words "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam" ("I announce to you a great joy. We have a pope.")

Pope Francis, speaking Italian with a slight Latin American accent, joked with the crowd before delivering his blessing, saying: "As you know the duty of the conclave is to give Rome a bishop. It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world."

Speaking Italian with a slight Latin American accent he added the world should set off on a path of love and fraternity.

He concluded by bidding the huge crowd: "Good night and have a good rest."

The pontiff has become the 266th Pope in the Church's 2,000-year history at a time of great crisis, with the church under fire over a child sex abuse scandal and torn by infighting in the Vatican bureaucracy.

[With reports from Reuters and The Guardian. Photo: Reuters. As posted by Reyn Adonay for Reyn's Room]

Posted in: 2013 Events,News,Pope Francis I,Vatican