The former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio begins work after surprise election to papacy
• First non-European pope in 1,300 years likely to face more scrutiny of his past..
9.11am GMT
The Argentinian newspaper, Clarín, has as you might expect, a wealth of pope-related news. It also has this rather nice gallery of big, high-resolution photos from last night.
The scene at St Peter's Square last night. Photograph: Unimedia Images/Rex Features
Here's a good photo of the scene last night at the Vatican.
Crowds at the Vatican City. Photograph: Unimedia Images/Rex Features
And a close up of the (very) packed crowd.
8.51am GMT
8.45am GMT
Heading into work and worried you don't sound sufficiently well-informed about the new spiritual leader of the globe's 1.2bn baptised Catholics? Here's some handy crib sheets:
• 13 key facts about the new pope, including his fondness for buses (up till now) and his one functioning lung.
• Francis in his own words.
• A profile charting his progress from railway worker's son to cardinal and then pope.
8.38am GMT
Lizzy Davies emails again to note that the new pope, as well as the Vatican press corps, have got a busy few days looming. Here she outlines his upcoming agenda:
• Today: At 5pm Italian time Francis will hold a mass for the close of conclave with cardinals in the Sistine chapel.
• Tomorrow: The new pope has an audience with the college of cardinals in the Clementine Hall where Benedict said his farewell to them last month.
• Saturday: The pope will meet the press at 11am. This was greeted with a round of applause in the briefing last night. Journalists can't wait. Not sure if the feeling is mutual.
• Sunday: Francis will give his first Sunday prayer, or Angelus.
• Tuesday: The new pontiff will be officially installed at his inaugural mass from 9.30am. Dignitaries from all over the world are expected to attend.
8.36am GMT
Reuters has some more details of the new pope's brief visit to Santa Maria Maggiore, which, they helpfully add, is the oldest church in the world dedicated to the Madonna.
There, the news agency reports, Francis prayed before an icon of the Madonna called the Salus Populi Romani, or Protectress of the Roman People. It quotes Father Ludovico Melo, a priest who joined the pope in prayer:
He spoke to us cordially like a father. We were given 10 minutes' advance notice that the pope was coming.
8.27am GMT
Lizzy Davies in Rome has been tracking Francis's movements so far this morning:
Pope Francis has already been out this morning – to pray at Santa Maria Maggiore, a magnificent basilica outside the Vatican walls and a stone's throw from Rome's Termini train station. He spent around 30 minutes there, before returning to the Vatican in a chauffeur-driven car. (Long gone are the days of taking the bus, it seems.)
It's worth noting that the new pontiff was accompanied on his trip by Georg Gaenswein, the German archbishop who is not only prefect of the papal household but also still the personal secretary of emeritus pope Benedict XVI. Upon becoming pope last night, one of the first things Francis did was to telephone his predecessor. That's certainly not been on the agenda of a new pontiff before.
Intriguingly, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reports this morning that Francis had already been out of the Vatican last night. It says he took an "immediate decision" to go out briefly into Rome. But there's no more detail on where he went or what he did.
Pope Francis waves as he leaves Santa Maria Maggiore basilica after his visit this morning. Photograph: CIRO FUSCO/EPA
Updated at 8.29am GMT
8.25am GMT
Let me start by pointing you towards some highlights of our current coverage:
• Lizzy Davies recounts the scenes in St Peter's Square last night as the news emerged, featuring the wonderful opening line:
'Oh mamma mia! Oh la la! The light is on in the loggia! Habemus papam!" cried Sister Walburga, a polyglot nun from Germany who almost ran out of languages in her excitement as a shadow formed behind the curtain on the balcony.
• Andrew Brown discusses what the unexpected choice of pope means for the Catholic church.
• What we know so far about allegations surrounding the new pope's actions under Argentina's military dictatorship.
• A round-up of global reaction to the appointment.
8.18am GMT
Good morning, and welcome to updates from the first day in office of Pope Francis I, whose appointment as something of a perceived outsider to become the first non-European pope in 1,300 years was announced last night.
The man formerly known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina can expect non-stop scrutiny from now on – beginning with ranks of photographers snapping his every move, as the picture below shows.
Equally, he will face particularly intense examination of his past, notably what he may or may not have done during the "dirty war" era of Argentina's junta.
Your first stop for a summary of what happened and where we are now should be this lead story from John Hooper in Rome.
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