Argentina's President Hopes Pope Francis Will Be an Ally in Falklands Dispute

Has said that the disputed islands were "usurped" by the U.K.

Argentina's president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, hopes to have won a powerful new ally in her campaign to wrest the Falklands from British control with the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope.

The archbishop of Buenos Aires is on record as saying the islands were "usurped" by Britain, raising the possibility that he could use his position as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics to influence the future of the Falklands.