AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
And I'm Melissa Block. It was the smoke signal seen around the world. In the Vatican twilight, white smoke billowed out of the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel, and then the bells of St. Peter's Basilica were rung; marking the selection of a new pope for the world's more than 1 billion Catholics.
CORNISH: The new pope's name - Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a cardinal from Argentina and the first pontiff from the Americas. He has taken the name Pope Francis I.
BLOCK: On a rainy night, the new pope appeared on a balcony before the throngs gathered in St. Peter's Square, to give his first remarks. Heard here through an interpreter, he addressed the choice of a pope from far away.
POPE FRANCIS: (Through translator) My fellow cardinals went and found one all the way at the end of the world, but here we are. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.