From the moment he was introduced, Pope Francis has delighted Catholics and charmed non-Catholics in ways totally unexpected. A virtual unknown beyond Vatican circles a year ago, today he is among the most popular figures on the planet. By and large, the world loves him.

That is particularly true of Canadian Catholics. A recent Angus Reid poll found that 93 per cent of practising Catholics approve of Pope Francis, 91 per cent endorse his humble lifestyle and support of the poor, and 89 per cent give two thumbs up to his impact on the Church.

At first glance, it’s hard to find anything wrong with all that popularity. The Pope is admired for launching a papacy that is simple, humble and merciful. No red shoes, no papal apartments, no reliance on the popemobile. He pays bills, makes phone calls, writes homilies. He washes the feet of inmates, embraces invalids, comforts refugees, reaches out to the poor. He is a servant pope, a pastor.

But this joyful, unpretentious Pope caught our media-crazed world off guard. Unsure of what to make of him, it reacted in a typical 21st-century manner by making him a celebrity. The media praised him on television, placed him on magazine covers, named him person of the year, dubbed him the rock-star pope. And therein lies the problem.

Modern celebrity is often more about image than achievement. It is escapism, entertainment, vanity and gossip, a multi-billion-dollar industry that constantly promotes fresh faces and disposes of the old. It is often judgmental and unmerciful and, at its worst, an incubator for immorality and idolatry. In short, the culture of celebrity is the antithesis of what Pope Francis has steadfastly preached.

So Catholics should be leery of this third-party commercialization of a pope. Be grateful and joyful that the Church is blessed with Pope Francis, but reserve praise and reverence for the One who placed him here. Francis himself is dismayed at the superstar portrayal.

“Depicting the pope as a kind of superman, as a kind of star, is offensive to me,” he said in a recent interview. “A pope is a man who laughs and cries and sleeps well and has friends, just like everyone else. He’s a normal person.”

Francis describes himself as a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon to lead the Church. He has done so unfailingly over the past year in a spirit of faith, compassion and humility. This has created what he calls a “mythology of Pope Francis” as some wonder worker.

But the Pope understands the perils of celebrity — and so should we.