From the Sunday Herald: Meet France's Mother Teresa.
Posted on August 31, 2003 12:07 PM. Filed under: miscellaneous.France has produced some of the world's most memorable icons — writers, actresses, philosophers, cheesemakers — but even Francophiles may have raised an eyebrow at the news this week that a 91-year-old priest has just been voted France's most popular person for the 17th year running.
Abbé Pierre, a frail Capuchin brother, beat football superstar Zinedine Zidane and veteran crooner Johnny Halliday into second and third place in the annual poll carried out by the Journal De Dimanche newspaper. President Jacques Chirac barely registered at Number 22.
Little is known about Abbé Pierre outside his native France, where he is revered for his work with the most marginalised members of society and for founding what has become a worldwide network of communities which find housing and work for homeless people. [continue]