Pope Francis has been named Time's 'Person of the Year' ahead of Edward Snowden

TIME magazine has named Pope Francis its person of the year, saying he had become a new voice of conscience.

Pope Francis

TIME magazine has named Pope Francis its person of the year, saying that in nine months in office the head of the Catholic Church had become a new voice of conscience.

"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, Pope Francis is TIME's 2013 Person of the Year,'' wrote managing editor Nancy Gibbs.

The magazine said the Catholic Church's new leader has changed the perception of the 2000-year-old institution in an extraordinary way in a short time.

"Rarely has a new player on the world stage captured so much attention so quickly - young and old, faithful and cynical - as Pope Francis.

"In his nine months in office, he has placed himself at the very centre of the central conversations of our time: about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalisation, the role of women, the nature of marriage, the temptations of power.''

The runner-up for the accolade was NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has been granted asylum in Russia and with whom TIME published an exclusive interview conducted over email.

The newsmagazine has been giving each year since 1927.

Pope Francis

The former Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected in March as the first pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit.

Time Person Of The Year

Since taking over at the Vatican, he has urged the Catholic Church not to be obsessed with "small-minded rules'' and to emphasise compassion over condemnation in dealing with touchy topics like abortion, gays and contraception.

He has denounced the world's "idolatry of money'' and the "global scandal'' that nearly 1 billion people today go hungry, and has charmed the masses with his simple style and wry sense of humour. His appearances draw tens of thousands of people at a clip and his @Pontifex Twitter account recently topped 10 million followers.

"He really stood out to us as someone who has changed the tone and the perception and the focus of one of the world's largest institutions in an extraordinary way,'' said Gibbs.

The Vatican said the honour wasn't surprising given the resonance in the general public that Francis has had, but it nevertheless said the choice was a "positive'' recognition of spiritual values in the international media.

POPE PROMO

"The Holy Father is not looking to become famous or to receive honors,'' said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

"But if the choice of Person of Year helps spread the message of the Gospel - a message of God's love for everyone - he will certainly be happy about that.''

It was the third time a Catholic pope had been TIME's selection. John Paul II was selected in 1994 and John XXIII was chosen in 1962.

Besides Mr Snowden, TIME had narrowed its finalists down to gay rights activist Edith Windsor, US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

TIME editors made the selection. The magazine polled readers for their choice, and the winner was Egyptian General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who didn't even make the top 10 of TIME's final list.