The Vatican on Friday played down the absence of Pope Benedict XVI from a list of the 100 most influential people in the world drawn up by the American magazine Time.
Despite his recent profile-boosting trip to the United States, the Pope failed to make the grade in a list that included the Dalai Lama, the Patriarch of Constantinople, George W. Bush, actor George Clooney, former tennis star Andre Agassi, singers Bruce Springsteen and Mariah Carey and US teen idol Miley Cyrus.
''I'm very happy that the Pope isn't on the list, because they have used criteria that have absolutely nothing to do with the evaluation of the Pope's religious and moral authority,'' said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.
''It's difficult to draw comparisons and establish rankings with very different characteristics: there are actors, tennis players and so on.
''For that reason I think it's positive not to confuse the Pope's kind of authority and service with other criteria of a worldly nature,'' he added.
The inclusion of the Dalai Lama in the list was ''another matter'', Lombardi said.
Only one Italian appears on the list: Vicenza-born Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Indian National Congress, who took Indian citizenship after marrying the late Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi.
But Italian football team AC Milan were celebrating the inclusion of their star midfielder, 26-year-old Brazilian Kaka', among the 100 movers and shakers.
''He's the only footballer present in this special list and he has been selected because of his exemplary behaviour on the field and off,'' the club said of the current world and European player of the year.
