Jorge Mario Bergoglio elected as Pope

The cardinals of the Roman Catholic church has chosen Argentine Jorge Bergoglio as their new Pope and chose the papal name Francis, becoming first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium. The 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests.

Elected on the fifth ballot, Francis was chosen in one of the fastest conclaves in years as the church had been in turmoil following the upheaval unleashed by Pope Benedict XVI's surprise resignation.

The world's Catholics will be looking to his successor to provide not only spiritual inspiration but also firm leadership. He takes on the leadership of a church whose faithful have been shocked by a proliferation of clerical sex abuse scandals throughout the rich world and dismayed by events in and around the Vatican.

Procedure for election of Pope

The pope is elected by 120 elector cardinals. Cardinals are bishops who are directly appointed by the pope at various points during his pontificate. Although they have lots of other jobs to keep them busy during a pope's often lengthy tenure, the primary role of cardinals is to elect the next pope. There are usually more than 120 cardinals at any one time, but not all are elector cardinals. Under current church law, cardinals must be under 80 years of age, of sound mind, and present in person at the elections to be eligible to vote.  Currently there are 209 cardinals in all but only 115 of these are allowed to vote.

The voting by cardinals to elect the next pope takes place behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, following a highly detailed procedure last revised by Pope John Paul II.

Under the rules, secret ballots can be cast once on the first day of the conclave, then normally twice during each subsequent morning and evening session. Only cardinals under the age of 80 can vote in the conclave; older cardinals do not enter the Sistine Chapel.

There can be several rounds of voting and the used ballots are burnt in the chimney. When the result is inconclusive the ballots are burnt with damp straw, helped along by chemicals to emit a thick dark smoke.

Whereas when a pope is elected, the ballots are burned immediately. By tradition, the ballots are burned dry -- or with chemical additives -- to produce white smoke when a pope has been elected; they are burned with damp straw or other chemicals to produce black smoke when the voting has been inconclusive.

The most notable change introduced by Pope John Paul II into the voting process was to increase the opportunity of electing a pope by simple majority instead of two-thirds majority, after a series of ballots. At that point -- about 12 or 13 days into the conclave -- the cardinals can decide to move to a simple majority for papal election and can limit the voting to the top two vote-getters. In earlier conclaves, switching to a simple majority required approval of two-thirds of the cardinals, but now that decision can be made by simple majority, too.