Vatican 1, Miley Cyrus 0…
After causing its now annual storm of controversy, Time magazine have named Pope Francis their Person of the Year for 2013. The criteria, which states that ‘for better or for worse the person that has done the most to influence the events of the year’ is usually ignored, meaning the naming of someone like Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in the final 10 was met with some complaints.
However, even more bile was reserved for Miley Cyrus’s place on the shortlist, though that was at least aided by the online poll element of selecting the final 10.
Anyway, after all that, the honour went to Pope Francis today, who has had a fairly good year in terms of restoring some humility and some good PR to the top job in Catholicism. Only in the gig since the March 19 the Argentinian, known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio before joining the priesthood, has ditched a lot of the bling and fuss of the papacy and his Time cover reflects that.
They expand on their selection here
Painted in his now familiar simple white robes, it is a great portrait.
Pope Francis is TIME’s Person of the Year for 2013 http://t.co/AXKIlnqqjr #TIMEPOY pic.twitter.com/xO9K2lDxxf
— TIME.com (@TIME) December 11, 2013
A digital painting by Chicago artist Jason Seiler, the story behind it on the Time site is worth a read too.
