CARMICHAEL, CA - A Sacramento community is celebrating Wednesday after the Papal Conclave selected a new pope. For the first time, the new spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide is a Jesuit.
It took five ballots, but Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina is now Pope Francis I, the first pope from outside Europe in modern history. Thousands celebrated the selection outside the Vatican.
Pope Francis I is a member of the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus. The Jesuits were founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola in 1534 and are devoted to missionary and educational work.
If you live in the Sacramento region, you've heard the word before. No one was as surprised as the folks at Jesuit High School at the selection of the new pope, in part because the selection of a Jesuit was considered a longshot.