Francis Beckwith, the former Evangelical Theological Society president who returned to Catholicism last year, has been named as the “Number 1 Person of the Year” by “Inside the Vatican,” a conservative Catholic magazine. An online essay recounts the spiritual path taken by Beckwith, saying of his transition from the society presidency: “Resigning that post to become a Catholic is, well, something akin to the President of Notre Dame stepping down to become a Baptist minister.”

Beckwith, an associate professor of philosophy and church-state studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and his wife, Frankie, are now parishioners at a local Catholic church. “I would never have predicted that it would take a professorship at the world’s largest Baptist university in the heart of Texas to bring us in contact with a godly priest who would help guide us into the Catholic Church,” Beckwith said.