Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio Promises To Bring New Look To Church-New Pope

Pope Francis' home country celebrates his election as pontiff.


 Tears and cheers erupted across Argentina on Wednesday as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first pope from the country. 

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, was elected in Rome by his fellow cardinals on the fifth ballot, during the second day of the conclave to choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. 

People jammed the Metropolitan Cathedral in the capital, Buenos Aires, for a Mass for Pope Francis - and priests said they hadn't seen such a big crowd in decades. 

When the news was announced inside the cathedral, the congregation applauded and some people wept tears of joy. 

Others gathered on the steps of the cathedral to sing, wave flags and celebrate the news that an Argentine cardinal had become Pope Francis. 

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had a reputation as a humble pastor who even in high office commuted to work by bus, lived in an apartment rather than an apostolic palace and cooked his own meals.

In the inevitable comparisons with his predecessor, Benedict XVI, some will point to the new pontiff's credentials as a local bishop, rather than a Vatican insider.

The 76-year-old Argentine has described inequality as "a social sin that cries out to Heaven" - and has emphasised the Church's duty to serve the poor and disenfranchised.

He is known for modernising a previously conservative Argentine Church, while Benedict XVI served as Catholicism's doctrinal watchdog for more than two decades before he was elected Pope.

Italian roots

 

Cardinal Bergoglio certainly preferred life in the local Church to the bureaucracy of Rome's administrative body - the Curia, which is widely perceived as plagued with management issues and in need of reform.

Pope Francis is also the first Jesuit Pope - from an ancient and fiercely independent Catholic order that has not always enjoyed the best relationship with Rome.

However, he has worked on various Curial committees, as a member of the Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments and the Congregation for the Clergy among others.

He is a fluent speaker of Italian - as well as German and Spanish - so will have no problems communicating with the team around him.

Having Italian roots - both his parents were Italian - will be seen as a plus in a very Roman institution.

The new Pope is a theological conservative and those looking for a change in the Church's stance on abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception will be disappointed. He is staunchly orthodox on issues of sexual morality.

These qualities made him a strong contender for the papacy in 2005, when he was reportedly the chief rival to Joseph Ratzinger.

Pope Francis is also said to have warm relations with the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, receiving awards from Jewish organisations, which strengthen his interfaith credentials.

He is a keen evangelist, criticising what he has called "the spiritual sickness of a self-referential Church" - and calling for the Church to "get out into the street".