LatinaLista — Latin America has the highest percentage of the world’s Roman Catholics — 39 percent. Overall, Latinos are credited with sustaining a religion that sees its numbers dwindling in some parts of the world. So the election of 76-year-old Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina as Pope Francis I — the first Latin American Pope — is seen as neither surprising nor uncalculated.
What better way to appeal to that portion of the globe where Catholicism is so intertwined with culture and heritage that it’s hard to separate the two. Yet, on this day when the 266th pope was announced, even those Catholics who left the church long ago, or consider themselves non-practicing, couldn’t help but feel a little excited while waiting for the announcement, and if they were Latino — a slight swell of pride.
However, no part of the world was more excited or proud than in Central and South America where Papa Francisco I, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, is already known to be an ardent fútbol (soccer) fan of the San Lorenzo de Almagro team.
Below are a few of the headlines that ran on the digital news sites in Spanish-speaking and South American countries announcing the new pope.
Argentina
Clarín Digital
El nuevo Papa es el argentino Jorge Bergoglio y se llamará Francisco I
Diario Uno
Bergoglio es el nuevo Papa
La Nacion
Cristina felicitó a Jorge Bergoglio por su nombramiento
Bolivia
El Nacional
Bergoglio Papa, la iglesia se encomienda a un latinoamericano
Brazil
A Critica
Igreja católica já tem novo papa
Chile
Diario Financiero
Sorpresa mundial: el argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio fue elegido como el nuevo Papa y se llamará Francisco I
Costa Rica
La Republica
La Iglesia Católica ya tiene nuevo Papa
Ecuador
Hoy
Argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio es el nuevo papa. Toma el nombre de Francisco I
Guatemala
Prensa Libre
El cardenal argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio es el nuevo Papa
Honduras
El Heraldo
El Papa Francisco I es hincha del San Lorenzo
Mexico
El Universal
‘Fueron por mí hasta el fin del mundo’: Francisco I
Nicaragua
El Nuevo Diario
Jesuita argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio, es el nuevo papa
Panama
La Prensa
Cardenal Jorge Mario Bergoglio de Argentina es el nuevo Papa
Peru
El Comercio
Habemus Papam: argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio es el Papa Francisco I
Spain
El Pais
PAPA ARGENTINO
Venezuela
Última Noticias
Bergoglio es el nuevo Papa: Adopta el nombre de Francisco I
