The priest who wanted Francis to die, “In common with tens of thousands of conservative Catholics, including some cardinals . . .

believes Francis is driving [the church] towards the same rocks that have shipwrecked liberal Protestantism – and not through innocent naivety, but with a mad, self-destructive gleam in his eye.

Colorful, eh?

The world’s media . . . gave him an ecstatic welcome [ignoring] . . . the puzzled reaction of Argentinian Catholics, who were familiar with the new pope’s strange leadership style [and] had seen little evidence of easy-going charm when Francis was Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires and, before that, provincial superior of the Jesuits in Argentina.

In Argentina his manner was

notoriously abrasive. . . . he sent out confusing signals, [increasing] the presence of the Church in the slums, had no appetite for luxury and cultivated his image as a man of the…