Pope star

Pope star

UNITIED STATES - Time magazine, which named Pope Francis its Person of the Year, calls him a "septuagenarian superstar" and said "he makes masterly use of 21st century tools to perform his 1st century office".

"What makes this Pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the Church at all," the magazine said.

The first Jesuit pontiff emerged victorious from a shortlist including pop music's twerker-in-chief Miley Cyrus, Syria's civil war-waging leader Bashar al-Assad and US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Explaining the award, the magazine wrote: "Rarely has a new player on the world stage captured so much attention so quickly - young and old, faithful and cynical - as has Pope Francis.

"In his nine months in office, he has placed himself at the very centre of the central conversations of our time: about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalisation, the role of women, the nature of marriage, the temptations of power."

The magazine said the prestigious award, which has run since 1927, aims to recognise "the person or thing that had the greatest impact on the news, for good or ill".

Former winners include Adolf Hitler (in 1938), Joseph Stalin (twice, in 1939 and 1942) and the UK's Queen Elizabeth II (after acceding to the throne in 1952).

Pope John Paul II was named Person of the Year in 1994.

SOFTER TOUCH

Pope Francis, formerly Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, last graced the US title's front page upon his election as Pope in March this year.

He has since adopted a markedly humble tone, softening the doctrinaire approach of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, particularly in the Church's staunch opposition to homosexuality.

He made headlines on that topic in July, asking reporters: "If someone is gay and is looking for the Lord, who am I to judge him?"

Though he disclaimed any right to judge gay people, he has not made or signalled any change in Church teaching or policy.

He has begun a crackdown on Vatican corruption and called for greater financial transparency. The charismatic and "down to earth" pontiff has called for global leaders to fight poverty and inequality and attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny".

Time's managing editor Nancy Gibbs wrote: "At a time when the limits of leadership are being tested in so many places, along comes a man with no army or weapons, no kingdom beyond a tight fist of land in the middle of Rome but with the immense wealth and weight of history behind him, to throw down a challenge," she wrote.


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