Pope Leo, Max Weber & the dark side of charisma
6/26/202630 min
Is Pope Leo XIV quietly reversing the mistakes of his predecessor – or is he a Francis II, a ‘Bergoglio in nicer vestments’?
Damian Thompson presents his argument in favour of the former position, arguing that ‘although Leo has appointed both liberal and conservative bishops and often pays tribute to his predecessor, he has not followed Francis’s example of catapulting controversial progressives into major dioceses’. ‘For a better understanding of the contrast between Francis and Leo’, Damian says, Vatican-watchers ’should look beyond theological sources – to the writings of a sex-obsessed agnostic German social theorist who died from the Spanish flu in 1920’ – Max Weber.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Damian Thompson· Host0:23
[gentle music] Welcome to Holy Smoke, The Spectator's religion podcast. I'm Damian Thompson. I've published an article on The Spectator online about the dark side of charisma and what it tells us about the differences between Popes Francis and Leo. Some of the conclusions are quite controversial, and it's also rather a long piece, so I'm, I'm warning you, I'm going to read it out now. You may feel it's not worth the effort, but I think you may be interested and perhaps a little unnerved by some of the details it contains. So, if you've got the patience, here we go. The anniversary of Pope Leo XIV's election last month generated lots of thoughtful but inconclusive analysis from mainstream Catholic commentators and on social media, far more heat than light. Traditionalists in particular have turned on each other. Some think Leo