By Our Reporters, with Agency reports
LAGOS — At exactly 8.23pm, yesterday, Cardinal Jorge Mario  Bergoglio,, emerged from the famed St Peters balcony waving to the multitude of Catholics that had gathered at the headquarters of the church as the new Pope.

He will  be known as Pope  Francis.  He emerged after the fifth ballot in the second  day of the conclave of Cardinals

The 76-year-old  Mario Bergoglio,  runner up to Pope Benedict XVI eight years ago, is the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina. He is the first South American to be Pope.

Newly elected Pope Francis I, formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

The Pope’s appearance was preceded at  7. 06 pm  by white smoke which appeared in the  chimney above the Sistine chapel in the Vatican, signifying that the Roman Catholic Church had a new Pope. The smoke appeared after  five rounds of voting.

French Proto-Deacon Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran announced the name of the new Pope. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio took name of Francis after accepting his election as 266th head of Roman Catholic church, the cardinal said. He is named after the legendary Catholic saint, Francis of Assisi. He’s also the first Pope from Jesuit order.

Pope Francis’ first words in his presentation was  “It seems my brother cardinals ‘went to the end of the world’ to find a new pope.”

The announcement of the Argentine was a big surprise. He was not among the favourites with pundits tipping him at 25-1

He was announced to the crowd waiting in St Peter’s Square from the vast balcony that runs across the front of St Peter’s basilica. In 2005, Pope Francis predecessor,  Benedict XVI, was elected on the second day after four rounds of voting.

The new pope was greeted by cheers during his address: “I’d ask you to pray to God so that he can bless me,” Pope Francis  said, leading a silent prayer, followed by a loud cheer from the crowd.

The crowd grew silent as Bergoglio, 76, recited the Lord’s Prayer and a Hail Mary. “Let us pray for the whole world,” he told the crowd.

“I ask you a favour: Before the bishop blesses the people, I want to ask you to ask the Lord to bless the bishop,” the new pope said, according to a translation by NBC News. “Please, pray in silence for me.”

Bergoglio’s papacy is one of firsts. He is the first Jesuit, first  South American pope. He also is the first to take the Pope name of Francis, for the saint devoted to the poor.

He said the world should set off on a path of love and fraternity and asked the faithful to pray to God for him. Pope Francis prayed for Benedict and hoped the Father in Heaven will bless him. He thanked the crowd for the welcome, adding: “Good night and I wish you a peaceful rest.” He left the balcony to rapturous cheers.

First South American Pope

Bergoglio is the first ever from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. He chose the name Pope Francis. After announcing ‘’Habemus Papum” — “We have a pope!” — a cardinal standing on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, yesterday, revealed the identity of the new pontiff, using his Latin name.

Bergoglio has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests. The archbishop of Buenos Aires reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election, and he has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope.

“In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly. Bergoglio is known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America.

His opposition to gay marriage

 Bergoglio has clashed with Argentina government over his opposition to gay marriage and distribution of contraceptives. He says gay marriage is a Satanic plot to “seriously damage the family” and that  ‘father of lies’ (Devil) is at work . New Pope Bergoglio has taught importance of respecting gay people, but strongly opposed same-sex marriage in Argentina.

Pope Francis opposed marriage equality in Argentina and called same-sex marriage a “scheme to destroy God’s plan. He is said not be a fan of the President of Argentina based on their ideological differences.

This is a tradition that has gone on for centuries but last night was a little different: among the millions watching was the former pope, Benedict XVI, the first pontiff in 598 years to watch his successor being appointed.

Moment of celebration for 1.2 bn Catholics

  Although for over an hour, as is customary, the identity of the new pope was not immediately made known, it was a moment of celebration for the 1.2 billion Catholics all over the world.

And the crowd in St Peter’s Square was waiting expectantly for him to appear on the huge balcony that runs across the front of St Peter’s basilica.

The fumata bianca – the white smoke signal that marks the successful conclusion of a papal conclave – arrived after five ballots on the second day of voting. The smoke that poured out of the comignolo, the copper and steel chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, was greeted with cries of delight and applause.

There was a split second of disbelief as the smoke appeared and then an American voice shouting ‘White smoke’. There were whoops of delight as people surged forward and people strained away from the screens to the tiny rooftop chimney where the colour was unmistakebly white. Umbrellas were  crushed underfoot as everyone surged forward.

Soon afterwards, the bells of St Peter’s rang out, confirming that a new Pope had taken over the spiritual leadership of the world’s 1.2 billion baptised Catholics with shouts of “long live the pope!”

The Swiss Guard then began to troop into the square ahead of the presentation of the new pope, in their traditional uniform and helmets and draped in blue cloaks as they stood at attention for the new head of the Holy See.

Inside the Sistine Chapel

 Inside the Sistine Chapel, after the final vote was cast, the most junior of the cardinals, James Harvey, a former prefect of the papal household, called in the secretary of the college of cardinals, Monsignor Lorenzo Baldisseri, and the master of papal liturgical ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, to witness the new pope’s acceptance of one of the most daunting jobs on earth. The most senior of the electors, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, approached the Pope-to-be and – in accordance with time-honoured tradition – asked him, in Latin: “Do you accept your canonical election as supreme pontiff?”

Having obtained his consent, he will have asked him: “By what name do you wish to be called?” The master of ceremonies, acting as a notary, will then have summoned two of his staff to act as witnesses, and prepared the document that certifies the new pope’s acceptance.

Newly elected popes are taken to be robed in the so-called Room of Tears, its name an indication of the reluctance with which most approach the task for which they have been chosen. The last holder of the office, Benedict XVI, introduced a change into the ritual that allows for the new pope to pray before he is announced to the world.

Pontifical band and Swiss Guards in capes and helmets march through crowd to St Peter’s basilica.