Habemus papam!

[Renatus]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...6pLid%3D283269

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio Of Buenos Aires, has been elected to be the 266th pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Francis.

Francis was elected to the papacy after two days of conclave meetings with a total of five ballots cast. Voting in the conclave, which began Tuesday afternoon, is confidential and cardinals were sworn to secrecy, but Francis received at least 77 votes, which is the minimum two-thirds required to become pope. There were 115 cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave. All were under 80 before Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's retirement, as required by Vatican rules. In 2005, when Benedict was elected, it took two days and four votes to elect him.

Francis, whose papacy is effective immediately, will be formally installed in the coming days. It's unclear when the installation Mass will happen, but Vatican spokesman Fr. Frederico Lombardi said earlier on Wednesday that Tuesday, March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, is a possible date. He spoke before white smoke signalled news of a new pope, and it was unclear if he expected a decision on Wednesday. Lombardi also said in the same interview that the new pope would likely celebrate Mass with cardinals the morning after his election.

The date of a papal installation typically begins visit with cardinals to the grottos of St. Peter's Basilica, where the first pope, St. Peter, is said to be buried. There, the new pope is expected to say, "I leave from where the apostle arrived" before a procession to the square and an installation Mass (the Mass lasted two hours for Benedict's installation in 2005).

At the installation Mass, Francis is expected to receive the Fisherman's Ring made for his papacy (the one Benedict wore was given up when he retired on Feb. 28 and purposefully damaged by Vatican authorities per tradition) as well as the pallium, the woolen stole that's a symbol of his authority.

When Benedict was elected, 12 church representatives knelt in front of him at the installation: three cardinals, one bishop, a priest, a deacon, a married couple, a nun and man from a religious order, and two young people who have had their confirmations -- a key sacrament of the faith. A similar group is expected to kneel in front of Francis as a symbolic pledge of obedience.

After the Mass, the new pope customarily is driven around St. Peter's Square to greet groups of priests and laypeople from around the world who have come to see him. In the days after, he is expected to visit the three main Roman basilicas aside from St. Peter's: St. Paul's, St. John Lateran's and St. Mary Major's. The first visit is usually to St. Paul -- outside the Vatican City walls.


For his first few weeks as pope, Francis will live in a temporary apartment away from the official papal residence. Vatican spokesman Lombardi previously showed reporters a video of new pope's short-term home, which has a study, a sitting area and a carving of Jesus Christ's face on the headboard of the bed. Francis will stay there while the official papal apartment is renovated. The apartment was sealed after Benedict's resignation and church rules say it can't be reopened for any reason until there is a new pope.

[Saya]

You know its bad when the last Pope was so conservative that this guy actually seems pretty decent.

I kinda like his emphasis on austerity though. St. Francis is my favourite saint.

[Renatus]

Well today it seems he went to the hotel, picked up his stuff, and paid his bill. A normal thing for a regular person, but a humble thing for a pope. I'm sure if he wanted to they would of gladly not made him pay his bill, and delivered his items themselves all free of charge. If the rest of his time as pope goes the same as the past 24 hours, we could be looking at some huge changes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_8RC4GUmgI

[Saya]

Yeah he also refused the limo for a sudan and later rode a bus with the rest of the cardinals. That with the name Francis I hope that this pope stresses austerity for the clergy.

I think considering the only options were conservative cardinals and ultraconservative cardinals, it could have been much worse. I mean yeah obviously he's a misogynist homophobe, but that's a given with all of them. I just hope he focuses on social outreach and the issue of poverty rather than orthodoxy. Given what they had, I think they made a good choice.

Unless power corrupts him.