I was born and raised in a religious Catholic family. I spent my first 40 or so years believing what I was told to believe, acting in a way that, more or less, aligned with the Catholic Church but then I started to chafe at the Old World constraints and outdated thinking. Doubt can be a gateway to many places, atheism being one of them. Now I happily embrace a life free from religion of any kind. Having said that, how about Pope Francis?!  

I can’t say that he makes me proud to be a Catholic, because that’s no longer the case, but he makes me proud to be a human being, which doesn’t happen that often lately.

Here’s my question: who on Earth has more influence than Pope Francis? There are over 2 billion Catholics worldwide who listen to what he says and even I’m listening to his every word right now on CNN where he’s talking about climate change. I seriously can’t think of one other person who holds this much power. Period. Can anyone else? I’d be interested to hear your perspective…