White smoke billowed from the chimney atop the Vatican's Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, followed by bells ringing from St. Peter's Basilica — signaling the election of a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.
Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio, 76, current Archbishop of Buenos Aires, will be Pope Francis I.
It took just two days and four votes for the 115 members of the College of Cardinals to elect the new pope.
From the National Catholic Reporter:
... the general consensus is that Bergoglio was indeed the "runner-up" last time around. He appealed to conservatives in the College of Cardinals as a man who had held the line against liberalizing currents among the Jesuits, and to moderates as a symbol of the church's commitment to the developing world.
... Bergoglio is seen an unwaveringly orthodox on matters of sexual morality, staunchly opposing abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception. In 2010 he asserted that gay adoption is a form of discrimination against children, earning a public rebuke from Argentina's President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Nevertheless, he has shown deep compassion for the victims of HIV-AIDS; in 2001, he visited a hospice to kiss and wash the feet of 12 AIDS patients.
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