Pope Francis Selected As First Latin American Pontiff

With a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and to the cheers of thousands of rain-soaked faithful, a gathering of Catholic cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday – choosing the cardinal from Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first leader of the church ever chosen from South America and the first Pope outside of Europe for over a thousands years.

The change perhaps indicates a shift in the churches outlook, beginning to put more recognition of Latin America as the worlds largest body of Christianity. This is a huge gift to Latin America, one that the continent and its Catholics have been waiting for a very long time.

The new Pope Jorge puts an undoubtedly Spanish language twist on what is slowly becoming a Spanish dominated religion. Perhaps the question soon to be asked is, what language does the Roman Catholic Church now speak – Latin, English or perhaps Spanish and Portuguese?