VATICAN CITY (AP Mar 13, 2013) – Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio elected pope – first pontiff from Americas.

He has chosen the name, Pope Francis.

 White smoke is billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, meaning 115 cardinals in a papal conclave have elected a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
 
 
     The conclave was called after Pope Benedict XVI resigned last month, throwing the church into turmoil and exposing deep divisions among cardinals tasked with finding a manager to clean up a corrupt Vatican bureaucracy as well as a pastor who can revive Catholicism in a time of growing secularism.

 

Jamestown, ND  (KCSi-T.V. News Mar 13, 2013)  —  St. James Basilica in Jamestown is celebrating the election of Pope Francis at a eucharist at 7 O’Clock Wednesday evening.

At the Eucharist, parishioners will pray to God for Pope Francis a “Pastor for your Church who will please you Lord by his holiness and show watchful care to us. May the wondrous grace of Your majesty gladden us with the gift of a shepherd who will instruct us by his virtues and imbue our minds with the truth of the Gospel.” (prayer from the Roman Missal for the election of a Pope).

As St. James  basilica is intimately linked to the Chair of Peter, it is to be a center of special liturgical and pastoral ministry.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Bismarck says the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis marks a joyous and holy moment.
 
     Bishop David Kagan says the new pontiff has an excellent reputation as a priest, bishop and cardinal. He’s known for his scholarship and for his devotion to the Catholic Church and its mission to spread the Gospel.
 
     Kagan says that with the election the ordinary work of the Holy See will begin again, and that includes the duty of appointing bishops – including a new bishop for the Diocese of Fargo.
 
     Bergoglio is the first ever pope from the Americas. The 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires has spent nearly his entire career in Argentina.