United States: Pope Francis Enters the 2013 “Forbes” List

Pope Francis has appeared for the first time in the 2013 list of the world’s most powerful people, drawn up by the American magazine Forbes and published on October 30, 2013. The sovereign pontiff exceptionally made fourth place, after Vladimir Poutine in first place, then Barack Obama and the Chinese president Xi Jimping. According to Forbes, the Argentinian pope has breathed a new energy into the Catholic Church, thanks to “his humility, his compassion for the poor and his popularity on social networks, where he has over 10 million followers.”

Pope Francis has scored higher than Benedict XVI, who made 7^th place in 2011 and 5^th place in 2012. He also ranks higher than the other Latin Americans on the list: Mexican businessman Carlos Slim, who has the world’s greatest fortune, made 12^th place, the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, made 20^th place, and  Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto made 37^th place. The French president François Hollande, who, as Forbes pointed out, is at his lowest in the popularity polls, went from 14^th to 18^th place.

(source: apic – DICI#285 Nov. 22, 2013)