Pope Francis named as world's fourth most powerful man by Forbes

31 Oct. 2013: Pope Francis is the 4th ‘most powerful’ person in the world according to Forbes, the prestigious American business magazine, which has just released the names of those it ranks as ‘the 72 most powerful people’ on planet earth in 2013. Forbes ranks Pope Francis immediately after the Presidents of Russia, the USA and China. It is a most extraordinary result for this humble leader of the Catholic Church who has never in his life sought position, power or status, has always lived as a poor man and, until his election as Pope used public transport, shuns mundane events and gives priority attention to the world’s poor.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was given the number 1 position in the Forbes list, followed by US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in the number 2 and 3 slots respectively. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel came in at Number 5, and is rated as the most powerful woman in the world.
Each year Forbes provides a ranking of the heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs “who truly run the world”. It lists one for every 100 million of the world’s inhabitants, and since there are 7.2 billion people on earth today, it has come up with what it considers the 72 ‘most powerful’ among them.
Source: Ucan