Pope Francis: From the End of the Earth to Rome

On March 13, the cardinals of the Catholic Church, gathered to elect a successor to a living Pope for the first time in 600 years, announced a dramatic shift. By elevating Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina to become Pope Francis the 266th Pontiff, the cardinals were naming the first-ever Pope from the growing New World to take the helm of the church at a crucial moment.

It was a stunning move by a 2,000-year-old institution that has immense influence-with 1.2 billion adherents worl...