White smoke was seen coming from the Sistine Chapel, meaning that the Catholic Church has a new pope.  Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is now the 266th pope in the Roman Catholic Church and was revealed to the world around 3:20pm (ET).  The cardinal who has taken the name Francis replaces Pope Benedict XVI, the first pontiff to resign from the papacy since Celestine V in 1294.

Pope Francis is the first pontiff to hold the position who is not European.  He specializes in pastoral work, which is an important skill to have as leader of the Roman Catholic church.

Catholics worldwide will look to Pope Francis to provide not only spiritual inspiration and leadership. He takes on as leader of a church whose faithful followers have been shocked by several clerical sex abuse scandals throughout the world. A daunting task for any one person.

 

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