Facepalm

That, but you also have to give more credit to Pope Francis being more progressive. But he is stifled by court intrigues. There is persistent word going around that conservative clergies in the Vatican loath him and pondering to oust him if they could. Pope Francis also had a nasty spat with an infamously Trumpist archbishop whom the pope had excommunicated. And last year, another critic of Pope Francis had been [dismissed due to the pope's more open acceptance to lgbt](https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/11/us/pope-francis-joseph-strickland-texas/index. html).

Yes, I know, there was that time when the pope said something stupid about the lgbt not long ago, but I reckon he is playing the balancing act to assuage the convervative Catholics. I am not defending the pope here, but what I am saying is that common folks have a fairy tale notion that a leader's authority is absolute but it never has nor ever will be. Politicking is alive and well even in the Vatican, and even in a dictatorship. Think about it, if you're the leader, you are just one person out of hundreds of thousands in a population who outnumber you. You have to appease as much as possible or you would lose your authority and legitimacy. That's how politics is.