Time Person of the Year: Pope Francis

Time ^ | December 11, 2013 | Howard Chua-Eoan and Elizabeth Dias

[NYer]

He took the name of a humble saint and then called for a church of healing. The first non-European pope in 1,200 years is poised to transform a place that measures change by the century

On the edge of Buenos Aires is a nothing little street called Pasaje C, a shot of dried mud leading into a slum from what passes for a main road, the garbage-strewn Mariano Acosta. There is a church, the Immaculate Virgin, toward the end of the ­pasaje—Spanish for passage—where, on one occasion, the local priest and a number of frightened residents took refuge deep in the sanctuary when rival drug gangs opened fire. Beyond the church, Pasaje C branches into the rest of the parish: more rutted mud and cracked concrete form Pasajes A to K. Brick chips from the hasty construction of squatter housing coagulate along what ought to be sidewalks. The word asesino—­murderer—is scrawled in spray-paint on the sooty wall of a burned-out house, which was torched just days before in retaliation for yet another shooting. Packs of dogs sprawl beneath wrecked cars. Children wander heedless of traffic, because nothing can gather speed on these jagged roads. But even Pasaje C can lead to Rome.

As Cardinal and Archbishop of Buenos Aires, a metropolis of some 13.5 million souls, Jorge Mario Bergoglio made room in his schedule every year for a pastoral visit to this place of squalor and sorrow.­ He would walk to the subway station nearest to the Metropolitan Cathedral, whose pillars and dome fit easily into the center of Argentine power. Traveling alone, he would transfer onto a graffiti-blasted tram to Mariano Acosta, reaching where the subways do not go. He finished the journey on foot, moving heavily in his bulky black orthopedic shoes along Pasaje C.

[NYer]

Ping!

[MrB]

Bash Reaganomics => Person of the Year!

[gymbeau]

My sentiments, too.

cheers
Jim

[annalex]

Hm.

Well, for what this is worth, congratulations, Your Holiness.

[sunmars]

For once i can fully agree with this, a man of complete compassion and love and an example of how things should be done.

[ArtDodger]

Wow! My money had been on them picking Assad or one of the school shooters.

[rktman]

That’s nice.

But was the necklace man from south Africa too soon to make the cover? And what happened to tray-boy-eeee? I know he died the previous year but the trial was this year and the “lack” of just-us for the innocent choir boy should have at least had him in the running.

[Alex Murphy]

Bash Reaganomics => Person of the Year!

Gets conservatives in a tizzy => Person of the Year!

[MrB]

That also seems to be one of the major criteria of the left for “good personhood” - can you cause angst among traditionalists? Good!

[flaglady47]

“For once i can fully agree with this, a man of complete compassion and love and an example of how things should be done.”

If you like Socialists. Bring back Benedict XVI!!!

[DarkSavant]

And so Francis signals great change while giving the same answers to the uncomfortable questions. On the question of female priests: “We need to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman.” Which means: no. No to abortion, because an individual life begins at conception. No to gay marriage, because the male-female bond is established by God. “The teaching of the church … is clear,” he has said, “and I am a son of the church, but”—and here he adds his prayer for himself—“it is not necessary to talk about those issues all the time.”

If that prayer should be answered, if somehow by his own vivid example Francis could bring the church into a new relationship with its critics and dissidents—agreeing to disagree about issues that divide them while cooperating in the urgent mission of spreading mercy—he might unleash untold good. “Argue less, accomplish more” could be a healing motto for our times. We have a glut of problems to tackle. Francis says by example, Stop bickering and roll up your sleeves. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good—an important thing for the world to hear, especially from a man who holds an office deemed infallible.

He's being praised because the folks at Time believe he's diluting fundamental moral principles.

[MinuteGal]

Is it true that Snowden was the runner-up?

Leni

[sarasota]

Yes.

[vetvetdoug]

I can't wait for Ann Barnhardt’s response about this.

[NYer]

He's being praised because the folks at Time believe he's diluting fundamental moral principles.

Let them have their delusions. Most in the media are secularists with little or no understanding of christianity or any other religion.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Yes, I think they were looking to create a narrative to push the destruction of Capitalism that could last beyond Obama the Lame Duck.

And either wittingly or unwittingly, the Pope has walked right into that.

[Nevadan]

I haven’t seen the list of possible candidates, but I would be very surprised if Trayvon was not on the list.

[gymbeau]

That wouldn’t surprise me a whit.

Or even a half-whit!
cheers
Jim

[ken5050]

No disrespect meant to his Holiness, but when I read who the other finalists were, I’m reminded of the Rodney Dangerfield line that “he didn’t want to belong to ANY club that would let him join..”