Picking up on the writer’s “mad, self-destructive gleam in [Francis’] eye”:

This conspiracy theory is made more plausible by the erratic and sometimes vengeful behaviour of the Pope. From the moment he stepped on to the balcony of St Peter’s after his election, minus the traditional gold-embroidered papal stole, Jorge Mario Bergoglio has played the role of a self-effacing reformer, humble yet determined. But it isn’t always a believable act.

His “edgier side”:

We saw a glimpse of the edgier side of Francis’s personality last month, when he gave a typically garrulous and score-settling interview on the plane back from Slovakia. Francis has – rightly, in my opinion – urged all Catholics to get vaccinated against Covid. One who didn’t follow his advice was Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American arch-traditionalist sacked by the Pope with characteristic brutality from a senior post in the Curia.

Naming no one, he identified…