Person of the Year: Pope Francis

It’s no Miley Cyrus, but we’ll take it. Time magazine on Wednesday named Pope Francis the Person of the Year, beating out other runners-up such as Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Ted Cruz. “What makes this pope so important is the speed at which he’s captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the church at all,” writes Time. The magazine praises him for being a “canny operator,” such as his “masterly use of 21st century tools to perform his 1st century office.” Once a nightclub bouncer, Francis already broke with tradition by being the first non-European pope in 1,200 years—and the first Jesuit pope. Time also offers some advice to the pope, telling him to “ease up on hot-button issues.”