Time magazine selected Pope Francis as its person of the year on Wednesday, saying the Roman Catholic church's new leader has changed the perception of the church in an extraordinary way in a short time.

The pope beat out NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for the distinction, which the newsmagazine has been doing each year since 1927.

The former Argentinian cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was selected in March as the first Latin pope. Since taking over at the Vatican, Francis has urged the Catholic church not to be obsessed with "small-minded rules" and to emphasise compassion over condemnation in dealing with touchy topics like abortion, gay rights and contraception.

"He really stood out to us as someone who has changed the tone and the perception and the focus of one of the world's largest institutions in an extraordinary way," said Nancy Gibbs, the magazine's managing editor.

The Vatican said the honour wasn't surprising given the resonance in the general public that Francis has had since his election, but it nevertheless said the choice was a "positive" recognition of spiritual values in the international media.

"The Holy Father is not looking to become famous or to receive honours," said the Vatican spokesman, the reverend Federico Lombardi. "But if the choice of person of year helps spread the message of the gospel – a message of God's love for everyone – he will certainly be happy about that."

It was the third time a Catholic pope had been Time's selection. John Paul II was selected in 1994 and John XXIII was chosen in 1962.

Besides Snowden, Time had narrowed its finalists down to gay rights activist Edith Windsor, US senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Time editors made the selection. The magazine polled readers for their choice, and the winner was Egyptian general Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who didn't make the top 10 of Time's final list.