By Brian Hews
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina is now Pope Francis I after the College of Cardinals made history on Wednesday.
It’s the first time the name is being used by a pope and the name goes back to one of the most revered figures in Roman Catholic Church lore, St. Francis of Assisi.
The choice of Bergoglio is already being called “the most stunning” choice and “precedent shattering” in the history of the church.
The name symbolizes “poverty, humility, simplicity and rebuilding the Catholic Church.”
Pope Francis was greeted with a massive reception of cheers and screams as tens of thousands gathered at the Vatican on a rain soaked evening with an estimated 6,000 journalists from around the world covering the historical event.
The 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires becomes the first ever pope from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. He is also the first Jesuit to serve as the head of the estimated 1.2 billion parishioners.
