Thursday, 14 March 2013

Jorge Bergoglio Elected as the New Pope; Chose Francis as his Papal Name

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Jorge Bergoglio

Jorge Bergoglio: He is the 266th Pope (head of the Roman Catholic Church).

The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church chose Argentine Jorge Bergoglio on 13 March 2013 as the new Pope. The new pope chose Francis as his Papal Name. He is the first non-European pope in almost 1300 years and first pontiff from the Americas.

Before Jorge Bergoglio, no other Pope took the Papal Name Francis after Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis of Assisi was the reformer of 13th Century, who lived in extreme poverty and preached his followers to preach the Gospel always, if necessary use words.

After being elected as the Pope, Pope Francis waved his hands to the huge crowd gathered at St. Peter’s Square. The cardinals elected Jorge Bergoglio as the new pope after completion of the fifth ballot, but in all these ballots there existed no clear front-runner into the vote. For being elected to the position of the Pope, a winner must secure 77 votes or two-thirds of the 115 votes.

Before this in the year 2005, Pope Benedict XVI was the front-runner in the fourth ballot. In 1978 Pope John Paul II was elected after eighth ballot and was the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years.

Pope Benedict XVI, who was appointed pope in the year 2005 resigned from his position in February 2013 claiming that he was infirm to carry. He was the first pope in past 600 years to resign after Pope Gregory XII, who resigned from the position in 1415 to put an end to the Great Western Split among competing papal claimants.

What is Papal Name?
Papal Name is the name used by the Popes at the time, when they are in the office. This activity of choosing a name first started in sixth century and became a custom in the 10th Century. Since 16th Century every pope had been choosing the papal name.

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