In a study conducted by The Global Language Monitor, Pope Francis was the most discussed proper name on the internet, eclipsing secular leaders, global celebrities, and proper names of places, organizations, and movements. Additionally, the Holy Father’s Twitter handle “@Pontifex” was the #4 ranked word.

Despite the fact that secular society often tries to enforce the myth of the irrelevance of faith and religious leaders and the indifference of the common person towards religion, the elevation of Pope Francis and his papacy has been a noticeably impactful event in the daily lives of the people of the modern world.

The group out of Austin, Texas determines the top terms, words, phrases, and names by analyzing “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.

The Top Names of 2013 Rank /Name / Comments

Pope Francis — The former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, born December 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires ObamaCare – Five years after Obamamania, the president’s name is still in use though not always in a praiseworthy manner. NSA – The National Security Agency of the US collects intelligence through clandestine means of both foreign and (to the surprise of many) domestic sources. Ed Snowden – Edward Joseph Snowden, the former NSA contractor and CIA employee, who leaked classified United States, British and Israeli surveillance programs. Kate Middleton — Officially, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, the fashion and style icon, the future Queen of the Realm, wife of the Prince of Wales, and mother of Prince George of Cambridge.

The Top Words of 2013 follow Rank / Word / Comments

404 – The near-universal numeric code for failure on the global Internet. Fail — The single word fail, often used as a complete sentence (Fail!) to signify failure of an effort, project, or endeavor. Hashtag – The ‘number sign” and ‘pound sign’ reborn as the all-powerful Twitter hashtag.] @Pontifex — The Hashage of the ever-more popular Pope Francis. The Optic — The ‘optic’ is threatening to overtake ‘the narrative’ as the Narrative overtook rational discourse. Does not bode well for an informed political discussion.

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