New Pope Elected: Catholics in Oceanside React

A Jesuit cardinal from Buenos Aires is the new pope.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, the son of an Italian railway worker, becomes the first Jesuit and first Latin American pontiff, according to news reports.

He has taken the name Francis I.

After the choice was announced, Orange County Catholics began flocking to Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, although no services have been announced yet, according to Diocese of Orange officials.

The London Guardian and National Catholic Reporter described Bergoglio as a Jesuit intellectual who travels by bus, cooks his own meals and lives simply. After being appointed cardinal in 2001, "Bergoglio persuaded hundreds of Argentinians not to fly to Rome to celebrate with him but instead to give the money they would have spent on plane tickets to the poor," the Guardian said.

He also strongly opposed Argentina's decision to legalize gay marriage, saying children should be raised by a father and a mother.

He originally planned to be a chemist, but began studying for the priesthood in 1958, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

In addition to his advocacy for the poor, Bergoglio believes in contraception to prevent the spread of disease, faces no questions over abuse scandals and would reform the Vatican Curia, according to the Guardian.

The Diocese of Orange posted this statement online:

Bergoglio, 76, has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests. The archbishop of Buenos Aires reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election, and he has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope. In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world's Catholics, Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly. Bergoglio is known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America.

In what direction should the new Pope take the church? What is your wish for your faith in this new chapter? Tell us in the comments.