The choice of a Latin American to lead the globe's 1.2 billion Catholics stands to reinvigorate the church in its Latin American stronghold, helping it fight off growing inroads from Protestant evangelicals and raising its profile on controversial social issues like gay marriage and abortion.

The election of Argentine-born Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis this week came as a pleasant surprise to millions in a region that accounts for slightly fewer than 40% of global Catholics, but that some felt was an afterthought for the last pontiff, the former Pope Benedict XVI.

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