Colour me cynical, but any publication that declares anyone other than Edward Snowden as the Person of the Year in 2013 has to have some pretty BIG reasons for doing so. And the Pope's just don't cut it.
This pope however is so transformational he could seriously do a lot to bring peace to the world. Potential wise, this guy trumps Snowden on every level.
Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is.
P.S I'm muslim.
There are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world. I attended Catholic church growing up, and the pope has a lot of influence on Catholics. Many of these people have portraits of the pope (at the time it was John Paul II) in central areas of their homes. If you aren't part of that community, maybe it is hard to see how much of a difference the pope can make, although I think this pope has been hard to ignore, no matter who you are. When he speaks, hundreds of millions closely listen. And action happens.
He may not really have changed the church on the topics of contraception and abortion, but that's also not what he is really out there talking about. The topic is humility, compassion, and charity. When is the last time these topics really had a globally influential champion?
He's the first Pope from what is often called the Global South, and really brings a different perspective and emphasis on cultural and economic issues that could have massive implications for the entire world (whether you're Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, atheist, etc) -- reaching far beyond the debate Snowden started.
> "This pope however is so transformational he could seriously do a lot to bring peace to the world"
Could, maybe. But what has he achieved in 2013?
> "Potential wise, this guy trumps Snowden on every level."
But the award isn't for "potential", is it? Even if it were, the potential comes with the job title, so it's not something he can lay claim to.
> "Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is."
I did, really. I still can't think of a reason he won.
P.S. I don't think our religion is under discussion here, but FWIW I'm Hindu.
So how does he bring peace to the world?
Symbolically yes. But the world has moved on. Power these days comes in the form of a well developed economy, powerful armies, weapons, lobbies etc.
Spiritual power by and large means nothing in the current world.
Its all power, wealth and interests that move around them.
Colour me cynical, but any publication that declares anyone other than Chuck Norris as the Person of the Year in 2013 has to have some pretty BIG reasons for doing so. And Edward Snowden's just don't cut it.
Now I know that the internet is going to continue spreading to the point that it is at a much higher population than this, however, we are talking about 2013. Snowden did something awesome, and deserves to be up there in the finalists, but I don't like this sort of attitude that anything Christian has no relevance.
Francis has had a huge affect on many Christians and non-Christians alike because he is attempting to depolarize the Catholic church and better integrate them with the rest of the world. Both people deserve renown for what they've done. So lets not diminish the work of either Snowden or Francis.
It's not "just" about the internet, or even IT - it's the revelation that we are forced into a panopticon, that all of us are spied upon.
Christianity has nothing real at it's base. It's just mythology. Yeah, there are a huge number of people who "believe" it.
In contrast IT shapes just about every damn aspect of our lives. Just about all financial transfers, personal communication, news, etc. etc. are stored on computers of some shape and travel the internet. The internet has enabled the arab spring, international scientific collaboration and many, many, MANY other things.
As a little example of the real impact the Snowden Leaks have, just look at the number of Christians[1] vs. the number of cellphone subscriptions[2]: There's about 2 billion Christians. And about 6 billion cellphone subscriptions. So please don't go yapping about how fucking important some half-dead fairytale is.
[1] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=number%20of%20christia...
[2] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=number%20of%20people%2...
Addendum: Please also note, that the Pope doesn't even represent all Christians but just catholic Christians, of which there's even less than a billion.
Meanwhile, the Snowden Leaks are important to just about everyone. The only people who are unaffacted by this are people who live without any computers.
But hey, if you live with some indigenous tribe in the jungle, you're (probably) in the clear; Until realtime surveillance with satellites becomes cheap enough at least.
Wow. You're really living in your own little bubble.
To a huge number of people on this planet the problems around the NSA are rather insignificant.
EDIT: Typo
The pope can pretty much do nothing that will affect me, but the bullshit the NSA pulls affect me every day.
although i'm inclined to agree he is a very good choice...
Has he? I know that he has been saying a lot of stuff, but has he actually changed anything? I get the feeling that either he is full of shit, or that he doesn't actually have the power to carry out all the reforms that he says he will.
I think it was sarcasm.
There's some indications that it may have, if not spurring political change, at least reduced a barrier to it with some immediate effect [1].
[1] http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2013/1106/As-Illinoi...
I'm almost as amazed by my own persistent naivete: I went to Time fully expecting to see Snowden.
– G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, 1925
Anyway, I'm betting on a science-related POY in 2014, remember to check if I was right ;)
http://poy.time.com/2013/12/05/egypts-sisi-wins-readers-poll...
I have recently visited South Africa and I have seen the problems caused by non existent (or rather: not allowed by the church) family planning.
However, lots of people (mostly Catholics) just want see some change, and Franzicus is feeding their hopes. Not a hard job after Ratzinger (remember, he was head of the current-time inquisition), but as long as he doesn't tackle any of the real world problems that are within his reach, he is nothing more than a prop.
to pick such a wicked and corrupt individual, especially one who is deluded into thinking of themselves as righteous...
gah!!!
still... at least it wasn't Snowden.
