The iconic red border of Time magazine will frame Pope Francis as its 2013 Person of the Year, the magazine announced Wednesday morning. By the judgement of Time’s editorial staff, the pope–elected earlier this year after a surprise resignation by predecessor Pope Benedict–was the most influential global newsmaker of the past 12 months. Earlier this week, Time narrowed the finalists down to ten, then five. Pope Francis ultimately won out over Edward Snowden, Syrian president Bashar Assad, Texas senator Ted Cruz and gay rights activist Edith Windsor.

The magazine first released such a cover in 1927 under the name “Man of the Year,” and conferred the title on Charles Lindbergh for his solo trans-Atlantic flight. Since then, the annual covers have featured global peacemakers, U.S. presidents, tech billionaires, dictators and more amorphous concepts, like “the protestor” and “the endangered earth.” The editors’ intention is not to praise the figures selected, but to acknowledge their influence in shaping the news and history of the outgoing year. (Hence why Adolph Hitler made the cover in 1938.)

Pope Francis, of course, has made lots of news in 2013. After Pope Benedict announced his resignation in February–the first to do so in 600 years–the Catholic Church elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, ending the long line of European popes. Since then, Pope Francis has shaped the global conversation on religion by showing an openness to homosexuality and women’s leadership within the church, as well as by placing an emphasis on reforming the Vatican’s finances while addressing inequality and poverty around the world.

This makes him the third pope to appear as Time’s Person of the Year, as Pope John Paul II made the cover in 1994 and Pope John XXIII made the cover in 1962.

While he didn’t advance to the top five, President Obama made the shortlist of 10 finalists. He has already been featured on Time’s Person of the Year cover in 2008 and 2012. The shortlist also featured Kathleen Sebelius, the head of Health and Human Services who has been taking blame for the botched rollout of the HealthCare.gov site, as well as performer Miley Cyrus.

Read more: Washington Post