Rome: "Habemus Papam!"

Written By Justin Merriman

White smoke billows from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel signaling that the College of Cardinals have elected a new pope on Wednesday evening, March 13, 2013 at the Vatican.
 Pope Francis I addresses the crowd at St. Peter's Square after becoming the 266th pontiff in the Catholic church's 2,000 year history.  
 People react after white smoke billows from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel and its bells ring out across the square, signaling that the College of Cardinals have elected a new pope on Wednesday evening, March 13, 2013 at the Vatican.
People await the new pope.
People react after the announcement of "Habemus Papam" (We have a new pope).
A woman prays as she awaits Pope Francis I.
 Argentinians wave their country's flag after the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected as the new spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at the Vatican.  Bergoglio took the papal name of Francis I and has become the 266 pontiff in the Church's 2,000-year history and the first non-European to be elected for almost 1,300 years.
 A nun stands in St. Peter's Square.
With the College of Cardinals filling the balconies of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis I addresses the crowd at St. Peter's Square after becoming the 266th pontiff in the Catholic church's 2,000 year history.  To read all about this historic night, read Betsy Hiel's reporting in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Justin Merriman

Justin Merriman, a freelance photojournalist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has traveled the world to cover politics, wars, natural disasters, civil unrest as well as covering assignment throughout the United States. His work has appeared in leading national publications and he has received multiple top journalism awards.   

After covering the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – including the crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – Merriman committed to chronicling the U.S. military and its war on terror.  He has followed this story across the United States and into the conflict zones of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He also has covered life in Fidel Castro’s Cuba in 2002, India’s efforts to eradicate polio from its population, the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba in 2012, the 2013 conclave and election of Pope Francis in Rome, the second anniversary of Egypt’s revolution and subsequent unrest, Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the international political crisis that unfolded in Ukraine in 2014, a look inside of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in 2015 and its uncertain future, and most recently, traveled the entire U.S. border with Mexico documenting issues on immigration. 

Merriman’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Time, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and other publications across the globe. 

He has been recognized with numerous regional, national and international awards from organizations including Pictures of the Year International, Society of Professional Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association, the Society for News Design, the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, the Northern Short Course, the Southern Short Course, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Military Reporters and Editors Association, and the Western Pennsylvania Press Club. He was awarded Photographer of the Year by the News Photographer Association of Greater Pittsburgh four times and most recently was honored with the Keystone Press Award’s 2016 Distinguished Visual Award from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Merriman graduated from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Writing. In 2009, the university awarded him its prestigious Alumnus of Distinction award. 

Currently Merriman lives in Oakmont with his fiancé, Stephanie Strasburg, a photojournalist with PublicSource. 

http://www.justinmerriman.com
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