Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is now Pope Francis, punctuating more than an hour of anticipation after white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney.
HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM
— Pontifex (@Pontifex) March 13, 2013
A Twitter account that claims to belong to Bergoglio’s, but is not, gained tens of thousands of followers since the time he stepped out onto the balcony. Here’s something that claims to be his Facebook profile.
- (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
The new pope is a Jesuit, and his name reflects his desire to heal the church, Rocco Palmo writes: “By choosing the name of the founder of his community’s traditional rivals,” Francis has “signaled two things: his desire to be a force of unity in a polarized fold, and his intent to ‘repair God’s house, which has fallen into ruin’… that is, to rebuild the church.”
Some journalists had correctly speculated in advance about the new Pope’s name choice.
Reuters’ religion editor Tom Heneghan explains what the new pope’s name might signify. “No pope has ever taken the name of Saint Francis of Assisi, the 13th century reformer who lived in poverty and told followers: ‘Preach the Gospel always, if necessary use words,'” Heneghan wrote.
The new pope “might even call himself Pope Francis I,” Cathy Lynn Grossman wrote in USA Today Wednesday morning.
Both the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal prepared snazzy infographics about papal names. If you can’t get over to Wikipedia, Business Insider has incorporated Francis’ Wiki page into a blog post.
The National Catholic Reporter profiled Bergoglio earlier this month, anticipating that he may be elected Pope.
The New York Times corrected an initial misspelling of his middle name: “A photo caption and news alert misspelled part of the new pope’s name. He is Jorge Mario Bergoglio, not Jorge Maria Bergoglio.”
And finally, a word of warning for future big news events: That joke you think is so great? Someone else has thought of it.
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