Like the populist he was, Pope Francis felt an instinctive scepticism about bureaucracies, including the one he was called to lead. Famously, he once catalogued 15 spiritual diseases of the Roman curia, including "spiritual Alzheimer's" and the "terrorism of gossip", and those actually were among the kinder things he had to say about the place.
I vividly recall one veteran curial official coming out of that Christmas 2014 dressing-down and sarcastically quipping to no one in particular: "Well, that wasn't exactly a pick-me-up." The problem with populism is that, sooner or later, you need institutions to function to get things done. Personal inspiration and leadership by example can only carry an administration so far, and when its institutions, which a leader is called to direct, are demoralised and lacking direction, it generally spells great mischief.
