Argentinian Pope, 76, is named Francis I

Tens of thousands of Catholics flocked to the Vatican City last night to witness Jorge Mario Bergoglio's unveiling as Pope Francis I - the Church's first ever leader born outside Europe. The Argentine son of an Italian railway worker was chosen as the 266th pontiff on the fifth ballot of the conclave of cardinals last night, with the Sistine Chapel's symbolic white smoke revealing the decision. To the cardinals who chose him, it is hoped the 76-year-old's election will be a watershed moment for the world's 1.2billion Catholics. They undoubtedly feel that with his Italian roots he will be able to take on the Vatican bureaucracy known as the Curia - which has been subject to accusations of money-laundering - and to take a tough line on the sex scandals continuing to embarrass the church worldwide. The former Archbishop of Buenos Aires is the first South American and also the first Jesuit pontiff, and will be tasked with leading the Church out of one of its darkest spells following the plethora of recent scandals. But despite the most daunting of starts to his new role, Pope Francis thought it best to start his first papal address with a joke. He told the thousands of soaking Catholics huddled in the Vatican City's St. Peter's Square that the cardinals had gathered to 'give Rome a bishop' but said that they had 'gone to the ends of the earth to get one'. The multilingual Pope's birthplace will be seen as a significant move for the Church, taking the Papacy to a continent in which 42 per cent of the world's Catholics live. It also poses a diplomatic puzzle for Britain, which went to war with Argentina when Bergoglio was rising through the ranks of his national church. He is first non-European Pope since the Syrian Gregory III in 731. Known as an avid reformer, he becomes the third non-Italian Pope in a row, having being born and spent his life in the Argentinian capital. Source: Daily Mail.