Big job awaits Pope Francis

The 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world have a new leader, Pope Francis, whose election was somewhat surprising as well as swift.

Elected Wednesday on the fifth ballot by the College of Cardinals, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina had been barely mentioned as a candidate. After Pope Benedict shocked many of the faith with his resignation last month, speculation focused on a number of possible successors. Given the crises the Catholic church faces in respect to how the church has dealt with child abuse by priests and with leaked papal documents on corruption and rivalry that were intended to be kept secret, many thought the cardinals would select a younger man, one who would be skilled at improving the church