Rock star Pope: in his first year as leader of the world's 1 billion Catholics, Pope Francis has caused quite a stir--both inside and outside the Church.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

When Rolling Stone magazine puts the pope on its cover instead of a rock star or A-list actor, you know something unusual is going on.

Since becoming the 266th leader of the Roman Catholic Church last March, Pope Francis has turned lots of heads, both inside and outside the Church. He's not only raised hope among the world's 1 billion Catholics that change is coming, he's also helped make the Church seem relevant again after years of being mired in scandal.

"What he's done quite stunningly from the night he was elected is re-energized Catholics," says Bruce Morrill, a professor of Catholic studies at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

In the beginning it was a series of small gestures: The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina chose the name Francis, after Francis of Assisi, a saint known for his work with the poor. The morning after he was elected pope, Francis returned to the hostel where he'd been staying and insisted on paying his bill. Instead of moving into the opulent palace where popes have lived for 110 years, Francis moved into a modest apartment in the Vatican. Much to the dismay of his security detail, he regularly mingles with ordinary people in St. Peter's Square, rather than locking himself away with the cardinals. One rumor even had him disguising himself as an ordinary priest to visit homeless people in Rome, Italy's capital.

There have been larger changes too. At the Vatican, Francis has replaced traditionalists with more moderate cardinals. He's stressed that serving the poor and promoting social justice are central to the Church's identity and mission. And he's put less emphasis on divisive social issues than his predecessors. Asked by a reporter last summer about gays in the Church, Francis said nothing about homosexuality being a sin, which has long been and still is the Church's position. Instead, Francis replied, "Who am I to judge?"

"This is not a 'thou shalt not' pope; this is a 'God loves you' pope," says John Cart, a Catholic Church expert at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

First Latin American Pope

Vatican City, a 109-acre enclave in the middle of Rome, is actually an independent nation (population 839). As pope, Francis serves as its head of state in addition to leader of the Church. Francis, who succeeded Pope Benedict XVI, is the first pope ever from the Americas, and the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years. Despite the firsts, few Church observers were prepared for the...