On December 11, it was officially announced that Pope Francis was named Person of the Year 2013 by Time magazine.

The internationally-famous news magazine decided to bestow the honour on Pope Francis due to his great humility and compassion. In a short article backing their selection of this year’s candidate, Nancy Gibbs, Time’s managing director, stated that “in a very short time, a vast, global, ecumenical audience has shown a hunger to follow him”.

She also explained that “for pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world’s largest faith to confronting its deepest needs and for balancing judgment with mercy, Pope Francis is Time’s 2013 Person of the Year”.

Moreover, Gibbs wrote that “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 and the temptations of power”.

In another interesting interview, Radhika Jones, executive editor of Time magazine, said that Pope Francis, who came on the international scene only last March, immediately made his presence felt in a way that seemed remarkably different from other Popes of recent memory.

Jones also observed that although the Holy Father is now head of the Catholic Church, which has in her ranks some 1.2 billion members; he introduced himself as a man of great humility. In the short amount of time since his installation as the successor of St Peter, Pope Francis has refocused a conversation that its focus is poverty and the fate of the poor. Even if such conversations have been carried out nationally and globally, in the Argentinean-born Pontiff they have finally found an international figure to preside over them.

The Holy Father is using the power he has been entrusted with in ways that promote grass root initiatives

When Jones was asked to compare the current Pope with other leaders on the scene, considering the fact that he has less power in literal sense since he does not have armies to deploy and, yet, his leadership seems to have really captured people’s imagination, the Time executive editor explained that when it comes to the actual selection of the person of the year what one is after is to find a person who actually struck a balance between institutional and individual power.

In the person of Pope Francis, this balance has surely been found because the Holy Father is using the power that he has been entrusted with in ways that promote grass root initiatives.

Fr Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, stated that the title the Holy Father has been chosen for was “unsurprising, considering the resonance and very widespread attention given to the election of Pope Francis and the beginning of his pontificate”.

Furthermore, the Jesuit priest commented that “it is a positive sign that one of the most prestigious acknowledgements in the field of the international press has been attributed to one who proclaims spiritual, religious and moral values in the world and who speaks effectively in favour of peace and greater justice”.

The Vatican spokesman accentuated that Pope Francis “does not seek fame and ssuccess, since he carries out his service for the proclamation of the Gospel and the love of God for all. If this attracts men and women and gives them hope, the Pope is content. If this nomination as Person of the Year means that many have understood this message, at least implicitly, he will certainly be glad.”

Another reaction came from Fr Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman who assists English language media. He said that while he shared Fr Lombardi’s views he showed his appreciation for the English language media in recognizing Pope Francis as the “great gift the world received on March 13, 2013”.

Fr Rosica also said that “the life, messages and gestures of Pope Francis have clearly transcended religious and sectarian divisions. He is an instrument of peace and hope for humanity. Clearly, he spends himself gladly and joyfully for the world. The world would be a poorer place without Francis, Bishop of Rome.”

May Pope Francis continue being the man of peace, the man of poverty, the man who loves and protects creation, the man who helps the Church put on the apron of service with a generous and humble smile.