WBRZ - Baton Rouge

VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina has been named as the new pope, and taken the name Pope Francis.

He is the first Latin American pontiff, and the first Jesuit to be named pope.

"You know that the work of the conclave is to give a bishop to Rome. It seems as if my brother cardinals went to find him from the end of the earth. Thank you for the welcome," he told the crowd in St. Peter's Square.

Bergoglio was elected on the fifth ballot. A quick decision was not expected, since the church had been in turmoil after Pope Benedict's surprise resignation.

Bergoglio is known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America.

Click here to watch live coverage from the Vatican of the new pope's announcement.