Pope Culture: Pope Francis’ social media stardom and much-adored pop culture footprint

Pope Francis death: A relatable, progressive leader who embraced humor, social media, and inclusivity during his papacy. A look at iconic moments during Pope Francis’ tenure.

On a February evening in 2013, Beyoncé headlined one of the greatest Super Bowl halftime shows of all time as she reunited with Destiny’s Child. The Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year was ‘Selfie’, and people still relied on Vine for a laugh. It seemed like a new dawn for the digital age as dog memes were all the rage, and we thought adding rugged borders to our Instagram photos made us look cool. The concept of a social media influencer was alien, and teens were still in the throes of the Twilight franchise. However, for a fortnight in this year of amateur pop culture trends, everyone’s eyes were fixed on a rather unlikely place — the Vatican.

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Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation on February 11, 2013, citing a ‘lack of strength of mind and body’ due to his age. It was the first resignation by a Pope without any external pressure since Pope Celestine V’s in 1294. Everyone was busy looking at the copper chimney of the Sistine Chapel in anticipation of the smoke turning white, signaling the election of a new pope. And turn white it did! On March 13, 2013 the world had a new pope — Pope Francis. 

Despite being a leader of a religious institution like the Roman Catholic Church, a position that seems intimidating and out of arm’s reach to the common man, he seemed to demystify his message about faith through layers of relatability. From sharing personal anecdotes about his time as a bouncer in a nightclub in Buenos Aires to working as a janitor, Pope Francis used his affable nature to woo people to the Church. And it worked! Within a year of his papacy, he became Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ and graced the cover of Rolling Stone. 

He once said, “To paint the pope as some sort of a Superman, a star, is offensive. The pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps calmly, and has friends as everyone else. A normal person.”

For a generation emerging from the troubles of a recession and picketing lines of the Occupy Wall Street movement, his rejection of wealth by choosing to live in a Vatican guesthouse instead of the papal palace and driving around in a donated 1984 manual transmission Renault instead of the standard papal Mercedes resonated with their understanding of the world.

To a young generation wrestling the evils of overconsumption, his decision to ditch the mozetta, a red (or white) elbow-length cape worn over a surplice, tickled their fancy. Esquire magazine named him ‘The Best Dressed Man of 2013’ as he understood that “menswear is meant to express the character of the man wearing the clothes”.