ROME – Pope Francis’s new top theological advisor has attempted to reassure voices in the United States and elsewhere who’ve questioned his adherence to Catholic teaching and tradition, vowing that he’s not a “Soros spy infiltrated in the Church”.

“I am not a Freemason, nor an ally of the New World Order, nor a Soros spy infiltrated in the Church. Those are pure fantasies,” said Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, an Argentine theologian tapped by the pontiff July 1 as the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, traditionally the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog agency.