"We have to avoid the spiritual sickness of self-referential church, " the cardinal said in an interview to an Italian journalist last year.

WSJ: With Speech, Cardinal Set Path to Papacy

He is a keen evangelist, criticising what he has called "the spiritual sickness of a self-referential Church" - and calling for the Church to "get out into the street".

BBC: Humble Francis brings both change and continuity

History is strewn with the corpses of stillborn liberal democracies starting with France in 1789, which attempted to imitate the United States experiment in self-government without supplying the spiritual, cultural and legal foundation that ensured its success.

FORBES: Democracy, The God That Failed

Combining theatre, music, historical reconstructions, and traditional oral and written tales, the Ramman is a multiform cultural event that reflects the environmental, spiritual and cultural concept of the community, recounting its founding myths and strengthening its sense of self-worth.

UNESCO: Culture

Mr Moreno, author of a spiritual self-help book known as the Family Bible, was tracked down after organising a lavish party that the police got wind of.

ECONOMIST: Mexico's drug war

Or the monastery's founder, Saint John of the Ladder, whose call to self-denial and spiritual warfare has been a sort of manifesto for monks ever since?

ECONOMIST: Saint Catherine's monastery

Chopra, 29, is the daughter of the well-being guru Deepak Chopra, who has an enormous following from his spiritual self-help books, which include Ageless Body, Timeless Mind.

FORBES: Paternity test

He came along at just the moment when a shot of spiritual renewal was needed to mend New York's badly bruised self-confidence.

WSJ: Insufferable or irrepressible, Koch inspired NYC