Pope Francis named TIME person of the year. | Hacker News Reader

Pope Francis named TIME person of the year.

reuters.com

18 pointsshashwat98617 comments

This guy has said a lot of nice things since becoming pope, and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. It really seems like he's clawing back some of the PR and good will Catholics lost over the last few decades. But the cynic in me only sees a propaganda machine that's finally firing on all cylinders again. I mean, forgetting what he said, what has he actually done?

For one, he's gone out into the slums himself and talked to the poor directly.

I think that the majority here, like me, was rooting for Snowden.

I think we all knew that wouldn't happen though.

Yes, and it's also the reason why we shouldn't even care what Time has to say about the person of the year..

Exactly my thought too - however, it would of been nice!

doesn't deserve it a bit. Snowden brought up a debate that is lasting, that concerns us. there is nothing the pope brought up that defined the year. Mandela would have been a better choice.

A comment from reddit might explain the farce:

"For those curious, I have a friend who worked at Time magazine for many decades and I asked him once how they choose the Person of the Year. He said that while on paper they claim to ask everyone who works there and such, in actuality a board of editors/managers/etc go into a conference room and try to figure out the sweet spot of "person it seems plausible we chose, but is still slightly controversial so we can sell a lot of issues." (Presidential election years are almost boring, as whoever wins is virtually guaranteed to get it.) I'm guessing, based on that, it came down to Snowden vs Pope Francis and the board decided there are a lot of Catholics who were going to buy the magazine if he was on the cover... and older people who are more likely to buy magazines."

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1smplz/pope_franc...

While I agree that Snowden would have been a great choice, I don't think the Pope is a bad one. He's ushered in a new era in one of the biggest religions in the world. It just doesn't impact on the Hacker News crowd so much.

I don't think the (absolute) merits of Francis are questioned by comments so much as their weight relative to that of Snowden's revelation.

Furthermore, a new Catholic leader who shows something different from the hate and bigotry we've seen in the past may be positive, but it shouldn't be something we celebrate as the single best accomplishment in a year IMHO.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6887410

"Time Person of the Year 2013", 1 hour ago, 38 points, 57 comments.

Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, group, idea or object that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year." [Wikipedia]

The Pope has had little influence on the events of the year. Of the nominees, Snowden would seem a best fit.

I am reminded of 2008 - 2009. My question: will he get his Nobel Peace Prize before the world wakes up and notices that he is in fact head of the Roman Catholic Church?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com