Argentina's Jorge Mario Bergoglio elected Pope Francis I

Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio has greeted crowds in Rome's St Peter's Square after his election as the Catholic Church's new Pope.

Appearing on a balcony over the square, he asked the faithful to pray for him. Cheers erupted as he gave a blessing.

The first Latin American and the first Jesuit to be pontiff, he will call himself Francis I.

Stuart Flinders reports.