Pope Francis Interview After Winning "Time: Person of the Year 2013": Pope Francis is the First to Communicate Via Quotes on Twitter [News]

Time Magazine announced its Person of the Year award for 2013 today. Pope Francis will be on the cover of the popular magazine with the distinction, beating out NSA leaker Edward Snowden. The magazine has been choosing a Person of the Year for over 80 years, and this year they chose the Pope who communicates with his followers via quotes on Twitter.

Nancy Gibbs, Time magazine's managing editor, released a statement about Pope Francis and some quotes from his interview as Person of the Year. She said, "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."

The spokesman for the Vatican, Reverend Federico Lombardi, said, "The Holy Father is not looking to become famous or to receive honors. But if the choice of Person of the Year helps spread the message of the Gospel - a message of God's love for everyone - he will certainly be happy about that."

Pope Francis was in close competition for the Person of the Year against Edith Windsor, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Pope Francis has managed to charm the general public with his positive demeanor and sense of humor. He has condemned the "idolatry of money" through his Twitter account, and consistently posts positive quotes from the Bible over the social media site. His Twitter account recently surpassed 10 million followers.