Time Magazine announced, Wednesday morning, Pope Francis “The People’s Pope” as the Person of the Year. Within a relatively short time period, Pope Francis has changed many opinions about the Catholic church. The Pope has incorporated auditing the known to be corrupt Vatican Bank and began commissions on the sex abuse scandals which have shadowed the church. Also, it has been reported, from time-to-time he sneaks outside the Vatican dressed as an ordinary priest to hand out alms to the poor.

“[W]hat makes this Pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the church at all,” Howard Chua-Eoan and Elizabeth Dias write in the cover story. “In a matter of months, Francis has elevated the healing mission of the church.”

This makes Pope Francis the third pope to appear as Time’s Person of the Year. Pope John Paul II made the cover in 1994 and Pope John XXIII made the cover in 1962. His public acts of humility have touched the lives of believers and non-believers around the world.

Time Magazine stated they come up with their list of candidates by considering who has “had the most impact on events this year, for better or worse.” The other finalists for the annual award included Bashar Assad,Jeff Bezos, Ted Cruz, Miley Cyrus, Barack Obama, Hassan Rouhani, Kathleen Sebelius, Edward Snowden and Edith Windsor.