Pope Francis was recently named Time magazine’s Person of the Year 2013, but what makes him so influential?
Time’s editors make their decision by looking for ‘the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year’, and the title has previously been held by well-known figures such as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Mahatma Ghandi, along with groups such as the Peacekeepers of 1993 (inc. Yasser Arafat and Nelson Mandela) and the American Fighting Man (representative of the troops fighting in the Korean War).
Importantly, Time has focussed on the Pope as an individual, rather than the institution he heads, showing his importance as a leader that has captured the public imagination and connected with society. Francis has created a new interest in the church, whilst his ideas about contemporary issues are seen as compassionate, moral and modern; a diversion from previous focus on doctrine to that of equality. Time chose Pope Francis for breathing new life into an institution that looked to be in decline.
Francis shows all the qualities of a strong and successful leader; moving with the times whilst ensuring that loyal supporters are not left behind. He has been seen to embrace both continuity and change, a concept which every leader should see the value of.
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