Well, Time magazine came out with its “Person of the Year” on Wednesday. They tabbed Pope Francis, saying this about him: “For pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world’s largest church to
Well, Time magazine came out with its “Person of the Year” on Wednesday. They tabbed Pope Francis, saying this about him: “For pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world’s largest church to confronting its deepest needs, and for balancing judgment with mercy, Pope Francis is Time’s 2013 Person of the Year.”
Thank God. Really.
Considering that Miley Cyrus was an early favorite for the title, we’re pleased as punch they tabbed the pope.
Can you imagine!? That can’t-keep-her-tongue-in-her-mouth twerk-star on the cover of Time, under the words — Person. Of. The. Year?
Let’s think about this one. The other finalists were: gay rights activist Edith Windsor, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Iran President Hassan Rouhani, President Obama, NSA leaker Edward Snowden, Syria President Bashar Assad, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. That’s an impressive list, whether we love them or hate them.
The nod went to Francis, praised for injecting life and dignity into a church facing a multitude of problems.
“What makes this pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the church,” Time said in its cover story.
“As Pope, he was suddenly the sovereign of Vatican City and head of an institution so sprawling — with about enough followers to populate China — so steeped in order, so snarled by bureaucracy, so vast in its charity, so weighted by its scandals, so polarizing to those who study its teachings, so mysterious to those who don’t, that the gap between him and the daily miseries of the world’s poor might finally have seemed unbridgeable,” Time says. “Until the 266th Supreme Pontiff walked off in those clunky shoes to pay his hotel bill.”
Now, back to Cyrus and trying to imagine what Time would have had to say about her worldly contributions. True, her popularity can’t be denied. Sure, we understand the pop star and singer, somehow, influenced a generation with her “twerking” and, for reasons only she knows, decided it would be cute to stick her tongue out every chance she got. Perhaps it worked and we will have a million teenagers sticking their tongues at us for years to come.
But all that doesn’t seem like Person of the Year material for a publication like Time.
Just because you influence a nation doesn’t mean it’s a good thing — though it does mean you know a lot about marketing and how easily people are swayed and will do anything, no matter how foolish it looks.
We’re a nation of innovators and a nation of followers, too. Perhaps Miley’s rise also means we like to be entertained, like to have a good time and don’t really want to think too hard about anything.
Unfortunately, Miley may be on to something. She knows her audience. She’s crazy rich. A nation can’t get enough of her antics. It might not be long before we’re greeting one another at the supermarket with a courteous twerk and lick to the side of the face.
Good Lord, what a terrifying thought.
Good thing Pope Francis had a good year.
