Time magazine selected Pope Francis (the former Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio) as its Person of the Year on Wednesday saying "the Roman Catholic church's new leader had changed the perception of the church in an extraordinary way in a short time," The Associated Press reported.

"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," said managing editor Nancy Gibbs in a MSNBC interview. It was the third time a pope had been selected by Time magazine. John Paul II was selected in 1994 while John XXII was chosen in 1962.

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

"Since taking over at the Vatican, Francis has urged the Catholic church not to be obsessed with "small-minded rules" and to emphasize compassion over condemnation in dealing with touchy topics like abortion, gays and contraception," The AP reported.

"[His papacy] is a huge gift not only to the Catholic Church but it's a huge gift to humanity for those of us who believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that it's not about building new buildings and bigger churches but in fact Jesus meant what Jesus said: that we will be judged by how we treat the poor and how we treat the disadvantaged; how we treat the whole place if we give hope to the hopeless," added MSNBC's Joe Scarborough.