‘A huge gift for all Latin America’

Latin Americans reacted with joy, bursting into tears and cheers yesterday at news that an Argentinian cardinal has become the first pope from the hemisphere.

“It’s incredible!” said Martha Ruiz, 60, who was weeping after learning that the cardinal she knew as Jorge Mario Bergoglio will now be Pope Francis. She said she had been in many meetings with the cardinal and said: “He is a man who transmits great serenity.”

Cars honked their horns as the news spread, television announcers screamed with elation and surprise, and Catholics began flooding toward the cathedral, where Ana Maria Perez and a few dozen other women had been waiting for the announcement.