On a February night in 2013, Beyoncé headlined one of many best Super Bowl halftime exhibits of all time as she reunited with Destiny’s Child. The Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year was ‘Selfie’, and individuals nonetheless relied on Vine for fun. It appeared like a brand new daybreak for the digital age as canine memes have been all the fad, and we thought including rugged borders to our Instagram photographs made us look cool. The idea of a social media influencer was alien, and teenagers have been nonetheless within the throes of the Twilight franchise. However, for a fortnight on this yr of novice pop culture tendencies, everybody’s eyes have been mounted on a moderately unlikely place — the Vatican.
Pope Francis dying LIVE updates
Pope Benedict XVI introduced his resignation on February 11, 2013, citing a ‘lack of strength of mind and body’ as a consequence of his age. It was the primary resignation by a Pope with none exterior stress since Pope Celestine V’s in 1294. Everyone was busy trying on the copper chimney of the Sistine Chapel in anticipation of the smoke turning white, signaling the election of a brand new pope. And flip white it did! On March 13, 2013 the world had a brand new pope — Pope Francis.
Newly-elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, leaves after praying on the the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome on March 14, 2013.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
Despite being a frontrunner of a spiritual establishment just like the Roman Catholic Church, a place that appears intimidating and out of arm’s attain to the frequent man, he appeared to demystify his message about religion by way of layers of relatability. From sharing private anecdotes about his time as a bouncer in a nightclub in Buenos Aires to working as a janitor, Pope Francis used his affable nature to woo individuals to the Church. And it labored! Within a yr of his papacy, he turned Time journal’s ‘Person of the Year’ and graced the quilt of Rolling Stone.
The cowl of Time journal’s Person of the Year challenge, that includes Pope Francis, is pictured on this December 11, 2013 handout photograph.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
He as soon as mentioned, “To paint the pope as some sort of a Superman, a star, is offensive. The pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps calmly, and has friends as everyone else. A normal person.”
Tryst with Minimalism
For a technology rising from the troubles of a recession and picketing traces of the Occupy Wall Street motion, his rejection of wealth by selecting to stay in a Vatican guesthouse as an alternative of the papal palace and driving round in a donated 1984 guide transmission Renault as an alternative of the usual papal Mercedes resonated with their understanding of the world.
To a younger technology wrestling the evils of overconsumption, his resolution to ditch the mozetta, a purple (or white) elbow-length cape worn over a surplice, tickled their fancy. Esquire journal named him ‘The Best Dressed Man of 2013’ as he understood that “menswear is meant to express the character of the man wearing the clothes”.
In this photograph supplied by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis holds a inexperienced parrot named Amore that was supplied to him by his proprietor, Francesco Lombardi, throughout his weekly basic viewers in St. Peter sq. on the Vatican on January 29, 2014.
| Photo Credit:
AP
Selfie spoils and social media
People have been fast to heat as much as his character, and they quickly heralded him as a social media star by requesting him to pose for selfies — he obliged.
This handout image launched by the Vatican press workplace exhibits Pope Francis posing for a selfie prior a gathering with the contributors of the Sixth World Congress of Pontifical Foundation Scholas Occurrentes on May 29, 2016 in Vatican.
| Photo Credit:
AFP
Soon sufficient, he mastered his social media technique and now boasts 28 million followers on Instagram and X (previously Twitter). During the pandemic, X (previously Twitter) customers capitalised on his penchant for pop culture by turning him right into a meme.
They used the web site’s tiled picture format to make it seem like Pope Francis is holding numerous objects with honest reverence, together with Simba, Baby Yoda, and the One Ring. The unique photograph of the Pope was taken in Brazil in 2013, when he celebrated Mass on the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida. In it, he holds aloft a wafer of sacramental bread.
From making coronary heart indicators by way of a helicopter to his followers on the bottom, letting youngsters play together with his cranium caps, and welcoming them to occupy his throne on a public stage he captured the creativeness of thousands and thousands throughout the globe. He embraced humour to advance religion. In an interview with TV2000, he mentioned he prayed to lord asking him to grant him a way of humour, “A sense of humor is uplifting; it helps you see the provisional element of life and take things with the lightness of a liberated spirit. It is a human attitude, but it is the attitude closest to God’s grace,” he mentioned. Backing this declare up, he wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times in 2024 titled ‘There is faith in humour,’ wherein he quipped, “The best thing to do in front of a mirror is to laugh at ourselves. It is good for us.”
In this picture taken from TV footage taken on October 26, 2013, a younger boy, no title accessible, sits within the chair of Pope Francis as he delivers his speech throughout an viewers with households in St. Peter’s Square gathered for the Pontifical Council for the Family’s plenary meeting, on the Vatican . The boy, a part of a gaggle of kids sitting across the stage the place the pontiff was delivering his message to households, performed round Pope Francis as he continued delivering his speech, sometimes patting the boy’s head.
| Photo Credit:
AP
Outreach
His progressive angle in direction of points regarding ladies and the LGBT+ group marked a shift within the place of the Catholic church, which helped pull various individuals into the folds of Christianity. Arguably, essentially the most talked about second of his papacy is his reply to a query on homosexual monks on the Vatican, “If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, well, who am I to judge them?”
A gaggle of Argentine newspapers, from left prime row, Buenos Aires Herald, Clarin, La Nacion, under row from left, Pagina 12, Ole and Tiempo Argentino, present entrance web page photographs and headlines of the newly-elected Pope, Pope Francis, because the newspapers are printed on March 14, 2013.
| Photo Credit:
AP
While he’s a full-blown superstar in Latin America as a consequence of his Argentinian heritage, he persevered together with his outreach efforts — in November 2015, Pope Francis launched a progressive rock album titled ‘Wake Up! Music Album with His Words and Prayers’.
Relentless in his method to appease individuals throughout divides, he even embraced the TED stage and delivered an 18-minute lengthy speak titled ‘Why the only future worth building includes everyone.’
The Pope like each different man in your life had the sports activities bug — he was a card-carrying member of the athletic affiliation the place he performed basketball as a toddler and loved cheering for the soccer group of Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, an Argentine skilled sports activities membership primarily based within the Boedo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.
This handout image launched on December 18, 2013 by the Vatican press workplace exhibits Pope Francis holding the jersey of San Lorenzo’s Argentinian soccer membership as he poses with group members after his basic viewers at St. Peter’s sq. on the Vatican.
| Photo Credit:
AFP
To err is human, and even the Pope who introduced a shift within the highest echelons of Christianity erred. His errors whereas coping with the intercourse abuse disaster in Catholic church buildings throughout the globe will stand out like a sore thumb. However, in a world caught up in a polarisation disaster, for a quick decade, the Pope appeared to be on the individuals’s aspect.
Published – April 21, 2025 07:13 pm IST
