This article comes from the Catholic News Service blog.
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Forbes puts pope in top 10 most powerful people
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY — Forbes magazine doesn’t mind searching far and wide for compiling its roundup of the world’s most powerful men and women.
Pope Benedict XVI made #5, behind Chinese President Hu Jintao, U.S. President Barack Obama, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Last year, the pope placed 11th on the list, right behind Bill Gates III.
Forbes cast a wide enough net this year to include people who use their power for unjust and immoral ends like Osama bin Laden, who made #57, and, at #60, the head of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, which is the largest cocaine supplier to the U.S.
Here’s the magazine’s rationale for how and why they chose who they did.
