Being made the Pope can be something of a mixed bag: on the one hand, imagine all the wom...no, wait. Well, at least there's all the wild parti...erm... Maybe not, but you at least have hundreds of millions of the world's population hanging onto your every word, and being the chosen representative of God on Earth must be a pretty heavy trip. You would essentially have the direct line to the main man upstairs. It's the perfect excuse to extricate yourself from awkward social situations ("Oh sorry, I have to go. I have to take a call...from God"). Pope Francis I, aka Jorge Mario Bergoglio (and a former nightclub bouncer no less), has quickly established himself as a seemingly more tolerant figurehead; his public displays showing a man more willing to be humble and serve the people of his religion in a more hands-on role lacking from his more recent predecessors. Indeed, his more liberal outlook and implied promises for the future landed him TIME Magazine's 'Person Of The Year 2013'. The question remains, is it deserved? Has ol' Franky done enough in the eyes of the general public to be granted such a prestigious and famous accolade. 2013 was a typically tumultuous year on planet Earth, and with that there were a number of contenders who were perhaps more deserving of the accolade. For a publication that had previously voted Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin (twice!) as The Man Of The Year... they sure picked a safe and boring choice in 2013. Here's ten more (serious and not-so-serious) that would have been much more interesting.
Currently undertaking NCTJ (journalism qualification), do a lot of music writing and very interested in literature, film, current affairs and anything else in between. Find me on Twitter - @jjviney
