Time magazine has named Pope Leo XIV in its list of the “100 Most Influential People of 2026”. Source: OSV News.
The accolade was announced on April 15, with the first US-born pope joining a diverse group of individuals – some famous, some lesser known – distinguished by their contributions as leaders, innovators, icons, artists and pioneers.
Each list member was feted on Time’s website with a short reflection from a prominent figure, with filmmaker Martin Scorsese saying in his commentary on Pope Leo that he was “struck by his bravery and his common touch”.
Recalling Pope Francis as “a man I came to know and love as a friend,” Scorsese said Pope Leo “seems to share” the late pope’s “understanding that the Church needs to reform itself to retain its moral and spiritual force.”
Like Francis – “the first Pope born outside of Europe since the Middle Ages and the first Jesuit” – Leo is also a pioneer, being “the first North American-born Pope (with a Chicago accent!) and the first Augustinian in 500 years,” Scorsese wrote.
“For many, the Church has lost a great deal of moral and spiritual credibility,” he wrote. “Revelations of widespread sexual abuse and financial wrongdoing keep coming up, and many Christians have grown more secular over the years. The Church is at a crossroads, and it may once again be remaking itself.”
He noted that “Pope Francis always stressed that the Church was not a building or a symbol but the actual teachings of Jesus,” adding, “I believe that Pope Leo shares that view.”
The list, well into its third decade, has “no single metric that defines influence,” Time editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs said.
Rather, Jacobs and his team “poll our editors, reporters, and sources around the world, and review the recommendations that are sent to us every day”, with their ultimate selections “led by the stories that are shaping the world each year and the people who write them”.
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Pope Leo named one of Time magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People of 2026’ (By Gina Christensen, OSV News)
