The Pope is a world figure. He is an indispensable interlocutor and his opinion is sought in the great cultural and social debates of the moment. The Pope is followed by many and criticized by many, but he can no longer be ignored. He carries out a constant task of defense and promotion of human rights, peace, life, the Education or the protection of the poor and disadvantaged. He is a natural mediator in conflicts, because although he has no armies, he has prestige.

It should not be forgotten that, as Rafael Domingo pointed out a few days ago, globalization has made humanity a political community. In it, the Pope plays a fundamental role. The Roman Pontiff showed great influence in the world in the era of John Paul II, who was decisive in the fall of the Soviet bloc and avoided with his direct mediation a war between Chile and Argentina. Benedict XVI has left emblematic images of leadership and concord, such as his speeches at the United Nations, Whitehall and the Bundestag, the visit to Auschwitz, his barefoot prayer at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul facing Mecca, or the trip to Lebanon, where thousands of Muslims joined the events. The words of politicians such as Obama, Carneron or Merkel before his Withdrawal give an idea of his stature as a world leader. Sayeeda Warsi, the (Muslim) Minister for Religious Affairs of the British Government, praised his career, recalling in the Daily Telegraph (February 14) that he dedicated himself to "building bridges" between countries and religions.

The Pope's prestige in other Christian confessions is considerable, as shown, among others, by the farewell messages from Kyril, the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow ("you courageously raised your voice in defense of evangelical ideals", he said a few days ago), or the Lutheran World Federation. An overly Eurocentric and North American analysis of the Pope could lead one to think that the institution over which he presides is in decline. The data do not support this assertion. In reality, the Church is growing steadily in the world. The growth of the Catholic Church is greater than that of the world population as a whole. It has grown from 266 million faithful in 1900 to 1,197 million in 2010. In some parts of the Americas, Asia and Africa, the increase in numbers is explosive. In Asia, for example, the percentage of Catholics doubled in the 20th century. In 1900 there were barely one million Catholics in Africa. Today there are 160 million, in an estimate that is considered conservative.

The magnitude of the Pope's figure can also be seen in the media expectation that we are experiencing these days. More than 4,400 journalists have been accredited in the Press Office of the Holy See after the Withdrawal of Benedict XVI. To these must be added the 600 who already work there on a regular basis. When the Pope is mentioned, audiences increase. The Roman Pontiff is the origin of literary best sellers such as Jesus of Nazareth or Light of the World, television programs with millionaire audiences, videos of massive circulation on network. In times of fragmented audiences and scattered attention, the demand and coverage of the media is assured. Benedict XVI left with the helicopter surrounded by flashes, microphones and television cameras, "tweets", blog entries.... Television specialists have described the broadcasting of Benedict XVI's farewell as impeccable and surprising.

Another milestone in the Pope's media visibility is the @pontifex twitter account, launched on December 3. As I write these lines, the main profile in English has more than 1,600,000 followers and has versions in 9 languages (Latin and Arabic included). Christmas 2012 marked another milestone, with the publication of an opinion piece article in the Financial Times, one of the world's most prestigious newspapers (December 20).

In this "political community" that is the planet, the Pope and religion are major global issues. Armes voices are needed to protect the weak and defend the truth in the face of moral relativism and corruption. Voices, as Benedict XVI said in his article in the Financial Times, that fight poverty by recognizing the supreme dignity of each person; that work for a better distribution of the earth's resources; that raise their voice to defend the most vulnerable; that oppose greed and exploitation. As Benedict XVI reminded us in Whitehall, religion "is not a problem for lawmakers to solve, but a vital contribution to the national discussion ." How do we endow political and economic life, shaken by a crisis that we now know is largely a moral crisis, with a more solid ethical foundation? "The ethical dimension of politics has such far-reaching consequences that no government can afford to ignore," Benedict XVI told British MPs. Religion and the Pope offer, by all means, valuable answers to a world in need of solutions and people of integrity. The next pope will also have much to say.