Time magazine on Wednesday 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.

“Rarely has a new player on the world stagecaptured so much attention so quickly — young and old, faithful and cynical — as Pope Francis,” explained Time managing editor Nancy Gibbs.

“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.

 AFP