Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a 76-year-old Argentine cardinal from Buenos Aires, has been selected as the 266th leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He will go by the papal name Francis.

Cardinals elected Bergoglio on just the second day of a secret conclave to find a successor to Pope Benedict, who abdicated unexpectedly last month.

Bergoglio, 76, has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests. The archbishop of Buenos Aires reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election, and he has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope.

Birth, education and priesthood

Born: Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Education: Studied at Theological Faculty of San Miguel. Received licentiate in philosophy.

Ordained for the Jesuits on Dec. 13, 1969.

Languages: Besides his native Spanish, Bergoglio also speaks Italian and German.

Ordained titular bishop of Auca and auxiliary of Buenos Aires on June 27, 1992.

Became archbishop of Buenos Aires on Feb. 28, 1998.

Received title ordinary for the Eastern-rite faithful in Argentina who lack an ordinary in their own rite on Nov. 30, 1998.

Proclaimed cardinal by Pope John Paul II on Feb. 21, 2001.

Participated in conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.

Served as president of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina from November 2005 to November 2011.

Interesting facts, comments

Reportedly received the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election.

Despite being Argentina’s top church official, Bergoglio never lived in the ornate church mansion in Buenos Aires, preferring a simple bed in a downtown room heated by a small stove. For years, he took public transportation around the city and cooked his own meals.

Had a lung removed due to infection when he was a teenager.

Couldn’t prevent Argentina from becoming the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage or stop its president, Cristina Fernandez, from promoting free contraception and artificial insemination. When Bergoglio argued that gay adoptions discriminate against children, Fernandez compared his tone to “medieval times and the Inquisition.”

Critics accuse him of failing to stand up publicly against the country’s military dictatorship from 1976-1983, when victims and their relatives often brought first-hand accounts of torture, death and kidnappings.

No Jesuit priest has ever served as pontiff.