his morning TIME magazine named Pope Francis its person of the year, hailing the head of the Catholic Church as a new voice of global conscience since taking office in March. He is the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years, the first Latin American head of the Church and a leading voice for the dispossessed. TIME says he took on a Church beset by scandal and signs of deep internal dysfunction, but there are signs that his popularity is revitalizing it. TIME managing editor Nancy Gibbs said they chose Francis "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."
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