St Peter’s square celebrate with bells ring, Cardinals elected Roman Catholic Church new Pontiff is Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio he is took name Francis I. Francisco Primo.

The new head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics is expected to appear on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica within an hour, after stopping to pray in the Pauline Chapel for a few minutes.

he 76-year-old will be known as Pope Francis I and appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to cheers from tens of thousands of the gathered faithful.

White smoke rising from the conclave at the Vatican signalled a decision had been reached on the new head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

His appearance came after French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the protodeacon, announces “Habemus Papum” – “We have a pope” – and gave the name of the new pontiff in Latin.

Tens of thousands of the faithful broke into cheers as the white smoke indicated the new pontiff had obtained the required two thirds majority in the fifth round of voting by 115 cardinals over two days.

The quick election was a surprise given there was no clear front-runner going into the vote – and the upheaval in the church prompted by Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation last month.

His departure threw the church into turmoil and exposed deep divisions among cardinals tasked with finding a manager to clean up a Vatican bureaucracy embroiled in recent scandals.

Who is Pope Francis I. (Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio )

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is also the first Jesuit pope. He is known for modernizing an Argentinian church considered among the most conservative in Latin America.

He was elected on the fifth ballot in a remarkably quick conclave — given that there was no clear frontrunner going in. The winner had to receive 77 votes, or two-thirds of the support of the 115 voting cardinals.

Bergoglio was greeted by tens of thousands of of faithful who have been waiting to witness the first new pontiff in eight years, and the 266th pontiff in the 2,000-year history of the church.

“We’re going to see in this guy a reformer. He’s going to take the church in a different direction,” CTV papal commentator Father Michael Bechard said.