Francis urged his fellow Catholics to pray for his predecessor and for their new journey together.

"It is a journey of friendship, of love, of trust, and faith," he said. "Let us pray always for one another. Let us pray for the whole world. Let us have a big brotherhood."

When white smoke started billowing out of a Vatican chimney announcing Francis' election, the crowd reacted with joy.

British Man: "Very beautiful, this is the first time of my life to watch this. Fantastic."

Unidentified Woman: "So emotional. It's white. I'm so happy."

Venezuelan Woman: "This is a historical moment, and we're very lucky to be here."

Reactions also came from people for the first time on social media websites like Twitter, which had the keywords "whitesmoke" and "HabemusPapam" trending worldwide.

Prior to Pope Francis' election, many analysts had speculated that the cardinals would decide it was time to elect a pontiff who was not European. Like their new pope, more than 40 percent of the world's Catholics are from Latin America. And as the number of Catholics has decreased in Europe in recent years, Africa and Asia have seen more followers filling the pews.

Francis inherits the reins of a bureaucracy that is still struggling to overcome scandal, including child sex abuse cases involving the clergy that date back decades and the theft and release of documents from the papal residence revealing alleged corruption in the Vatican administration.

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