Pope Francis, one year on – 13 Mar 2014

Inspirational Breakfast with Esther Higham

This time last year Jorge Mario Bergoglio was picked to be Pope. And since Pope Francis took the helm he has revolutionised the Vatican. But after just 9 months in the job Pope Francis was named Person of the Year by Time magazine. He’s pulled the papacy out of the palace and onto the streets. Rarely has a new player on the world stage captured so much attention so quickly – young and old, faithful and cynical. The former cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires named himself Francis after a 12th Century Italian saint who turned his back on an aristocratic lifestyle to work with the poor. So has the Pope reinvigorated the Catholic Church or is he just a product of good PR, as some observers have suggested? MICHAEL WALSH is a historian of the Papacy and edits the Oxford Dictionary of Popes – so he knows a thing or two about the Holy see. John & Nage asked him how he’s describe the Pope’s first year in office: