The Catholic Church on Wednesday elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned Feb. 28 due to deteriorating physical strength.
The 76-year-old cardinal was chosen as the new pope on the fifth ballot. It is hoped that Pope Francis will succeed in reforming a church whose reputation has been damaged by a series of scandals, including the sexual abuse of children by priests and accusations of money laundering by the Vatican Bank.
Francis is the first pope from Latin America, where there are some 480 million Catholics — some 40 percent of the 1.2 billion Catholic worldwide. Given the concentration of Catholics in the region, his selection comes as no surprise. He is said to have been the runnerup in the last conclave in 2005.