Pope Francis is TIME's Person of the Year

[Everlong]

This has been pretty big news the last couple days. He beat out contenders such as:

*NSA leaker Edward Snowden
*gay rights activist Edith Windsor
*Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
*Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas
*Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
*Barack Obama
*Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
*Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius
*Miley Cyrus

What do you make of this selection?

[PorkChop]

I'd have given it to Snowden, but Pope Francis does great things.

[Romo]

The fact Miley Cyrus was on this list pisses me off and all it does it shows people that making a fool of yourself and acting like a whore will get you far in life

[prophet]

The fact Miley Cyrus was on this list pisses me off and all it does it shows people that making a fool of yourself and acting like a whore will get you far in life

Lots will probably disagree but Miley Cyrus is my person of 2013. I'm not saying I like her all that much but she's probably the most talked about/controversial person of the year and definitely deserves to be on that list at the very least.

[ShaneOfan]

He deserves it. The only other people who were news worthy (which is what the Time POTY looks for, not who was the best person, which is why Hitler and Stalin were both MOTY) are Snowden, al-Assad, Obama, and Rouhani. At that Obama hasn't really had that huge of a year progress wise, Rouhani was big around the time of his election but on a world scale not much since, al-Assad would have been my number 2 and Snowden may have been a media darling but he basically told everyone what we already knew. While a lot of people cared, a lot of people didn't.

The pope has done a LOT of great things for a lot of people in a short amount of time. He effects most Catholics (save for the few thousand who don't see him as the true Pope) a group which makes up a huge portion of the world. Plus he effected a lot of non-Catholic Christians and even non Christians. This guy is big.

[HFX]

I ain't catholic but I think Pope Francis is a pretty awesome guy. Seems to me to be a man of the people and though I don't agree with everything he believes(he's a 76 year old pope and I'm a 24 year old fairly secular christian so we're bound to have opposing views) I think he's a much better option to lead the Catholic faith than Pope Benedict XVI was. He seems to me to want to use his position to better the lives of others instead of propping himself up as a mangod. I'm pleased with him being TIME's Person of the Year.

The only other option on that list that I know and would have voted for is Edward Snowden. Obama and Miley Cyrus don't deserve it and I don't really know anything about the others except that one Syrian guy is an asshole and should be shot.

[AkydefGoldberg]

(which is what the Time POTY looks for, not who was the best person, which is why Hitler and Stalin were both MOTY)

Good job you mentioned this cuz I was thinking WTF Assad was doing on it.

Initially I was abit surprised but on reflection, would say Pope Francis is probably spot on. Snowden winning it would have been massive but I don't know whether there was any sort of pressure not to have him win it but with him being in Russia, the story has slightly tailed off.

[Hanley!]

I would have thought Snowden should have won it. I can understand why he didn't, but that would have been my vote. From what I've heard it seems that Francis hasn't really done much. He seems nicer than the last pope but he hasn't done anything really progressive or anything, he just kind of said some nice crap.

He has plenty more time to do good work, and I really hope he does because the church desperately needs to move forward. But just being appointed along with being nicer than the last guy doesn't make him massively newsworthy in my mind.

[ShaneOfan]

I would have thought Snowden should have won it. I can understand why he didn't, but that would have been my vote. From what I've heard it seems that Francis hasn't really done much. He seems nicer than the last pope but he hasn't done anything really progressive or anything, he just kind of said some nice crap.

He has plenty more time to do good work, and I really hope he does because the church desperately needs to move forward. But just being appointed along with being nicer than the last guy doesn't make him massively newsworthy in my mind.

While there has been no huge reforms yet (my guess is with in the next few years we should expect something big) the dude has done a lot on a smaller level including sending Priests and Cardinals and apparently himself a few times, out at night to give blankets and food to homeless.

[Matteo]

Disgusting how Obama got in ahead of Putin. As I much as I deplore many of the actions committed by the Russian leader, his proposition for Syria to give up its weapons to the international community for destroyment as opposed to a limited military strike instigated by the United States, was an excellent one. It basically avoided another US war in the Middle East.

[Hanley!]

While there has been no huge reforms yet (my guess is with in the next few years we should expect something big) the dude has done a lot on a smaller level including sending Priests and Cardinals and apparently himself a few times, out at night to give blankets and food to homeless.

Yeah, this might be the cynic in me, but there are hundreds of charities doing work like that already. It almost comes across more like a PR stunt than anything. I'm not saying it's a bad thing or anything, don't get me wrong. It's definitely a point in his favour. But it's not the first thing I'd be looking from that kind of leader figure. And not enough to make him the person of the year, in my mind.

I've read a couple of the interviews with Pope Francis and what I'm worried about at this point is that he's going to be a soundbite pope. He says a lot of nice, charming stuff but avoids the tough subjects. He throws around "God would want us to love everyone" as a kind of a cop out line. He says vaguely accepting things about homosexuals, but still thinks the act is wrong and isn't about to support homosexuals marrying. He thinks women should have an "important part in the church" but isn't saying anything about letting them become priests. And he seems anti-feminism (made a few comments about disapproving of "female machismo" whatever that means).

If he ends up doing some good then I'll take all this back. I'm an atheist, but I approve of anyone who wants to help do some good in the world, and who helps society to progress. But until that happens, eh, he's just another pope to me.