The choice of Pope Francesco (Francis) was unsurprisingly greeted with huge, enthusiastic coverage in the newspapers of his home country, Argentina. Almost all of them carried the same front page picture of Jorge Mario Bergoglio smiling and waving to the crowds outside the Vatican.
In Costa Rica, La Nacion’s headline “Un Papa del Nuevo Mundo” (A Pope of the New World), the headline of the Diario Extra, the self proclaimed most sold newspaper in the country, reads “Francisco Nuevo Papa” (Francis New Pope), the La Teja’s headline, “‘Chico’, es grande” (‘Boy’, is big).
The papers in Brazil, which is reputed to have the world’s largest Roman Catholic population, also devoted full front pages to the new Pope.
Folha de Sao Paulo’s picture of the Pope bending in prayer surrounded by fellow cardinals was headlined: “Francisco, argentino, é o 1º papa latino-americano” (Argentinian Francis, the first Latin-American pope). And Sao Paulo’s Agora, preferred the smiling face of the Pope: “Francisco, o papa dos pobres” (Francis, the Pope of the poor). Odiario “Papa é argentino, jesuíta e decide se chamar Francisco” (The Pope is Argentinian and decides to call himself Francis).
Very similar images were in front pages of papers in Central and South America. In Mexico, every major daily – El Universal, La Jornada, Milenio and even the business title, El Financierio – splashed on the papal story. El Salvador’s La Prensa ran with “Su Santidad el Papa Francisco” (His holiness Pope Francis).
