Pope Francis is the fourth "most powerful" person in the world according to American business magazine Forbes, which has just released the names of those it ranks as "the 72 most powerful people" on the planet, reports Vatican Insider.
Posted on 10/31/2013 2:45:27 PM PDT by NYer
Pope Francis is the fourth "most powerful" person in the world according to American business magazine Forbes, which has just released the names of those it ranks as "the 72 most powerful people" on the planet, reports Vatican Insider.
Forbes ranks him immediately after the Presidents of Russia, the USA and China. It is a most extraordinary result for this humble leader of the Catholic Church who has never in his life sought position, power or status, has always lived as a poor man and, until his election as Pope used public transport, shuns mundane events and gives priority attention to the world’s poor.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was given the number 1 position in the Forbes list, followed by US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in the number 2 and 3 slots respectively. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel came in at Number 5, and is rated as the most powerful woman in the world.
Each year Forbes provides a ranking of the heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs “who truly run the world”. It lists one for every 100 million of the world’s inhabitants, and since there are today 7.2 billion people on earth today, it has come up with what it considers the 72 ‘most powerful’ among them.
Unlike Pope Francis who considers “power as service”, Forbes uses far different criteria to define ‘power’. It outlines these criteria in an article published on-line October 30, in which it announced the 72 names. It explains that its editors measure ‘power’ along ‘four dimensions’. First, they evaluate “whether the candidate has power over lots of people”. Next they assess “the financial resources controlled by each person, and see if they are relatively large compared to their peers”. Then they determine “if the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres”, being powerful in just one area is often not enough. Lastly, “they make sure that the candidates actively use their power.”
FULL COVERAGE
Francis ranked fourth 'most powerful' person in world (Vatican Insider)
Ping!
I'll bet SHE has no trouble buying an expensive handbag in Switzerland!
WHOA Obama is ahead of Pope in standing I thought Pope Francis be number two
I am suprise who is number one Vlady
total nonsense that Putin is ranked above the U.S. president, no matter who he/she is. The president of the U.S. has the power and the means to kill virtually everyone on the planet. He has control over untold wealth and up until this one, was not a dictator.
God's representative on earth is #4, behind Satan's representative at #2. That's a shame. So many people think the devil offers more stuff and more physical pleasure, and they are right. They are, however, mistaken on what matters in life.
Comrade obama has been a big step down for the country.
Well, we should keep our perspective on this. Popes should not be powerful at all. I would normally be troubled that people think any pope would be even the fourth most powerful person on earth. What power does the pope have? Obama has power, and uses it without conscience. Putin has power. But popes do not have that, and shouldn’t. Leave power to the princes of the world.
:-)
Influence: it's a different kind of power than political power.
I recommend you read up on the Battle of Lepanto. Pope’s have “connection” to the Ultimate Power.
But, this is not power as conceived of by such organizations as Time Magazine, or which compares to that of people like Putin and Obama. It is like questions of magic in the Lord of the Rings. When asked if their cloaks were magic the elves could not readily answer, because they didn’t know what was meant. The fact that magic was used to describe both the works of elves and those of Sauron was confusing to them. The same is true here. If one speaks of power in relation to Obama and Putin then it is hard to use it of the pope. At least, it should be.
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