Pope Francis is the most talked about name of 2013, and his twitter handle @Pontifex ranks in the top-five “top words” on the Web.
The results are revealed in a study conducted by the Global Language Monitor’s 14th annual global survey of the English language.
The Texas-based group determines the top terms, words, phrases, and names by analysing “the Internet, blogosphere, the top 275,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources as they emerge”.
The study is limited to the English language, which according to this study, is spoken by 1.83 billion individuals.
Seemingly without even trying, Pope Francis simply can’t stay out of the news. New pictures, statements, and stories going viral every week
He’s also a mega-celebrity of a different kind of order. While others are famous for lying, twerking, or their supposed good looks, Pope Francis seems to have become the No 1 name for the best of reasons.
The remaining top five proper names of 2013 are:
- ObamaCare
- NSA
- Ed Snowden
- Kate Middleton
Francis and Italy
The Francis effect is being felt particularly strongly in Italy
- the name “Francesco” has jumped to be the most popular baby names
- Rome is reportin a tourism boom, mostly from Latin America, and now
- the Catholic Church attendance is climbing throughout Italy.
Italy’s Center for Studies on New Religions reported Sunday (Nov. 10) that around half of the 250 priests it surveyed reported a significant rise in church attendance since Francis became pope in March.
“If we project these findings nationally, and if half of the parishes have been touched by the Francis effect, then we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people returning to the churches,” said Massimo Introvigne, the center’s director and a professor at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University.
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