Francis' very public visit to the unrepentant child murderer Emma Bonino on 5 November had the "flavour of a show", Luis Badilla wrote in an analysis on 9 November.
If Bergoglio had wanted to make a "pastoral gesture" to the sick Bonino "without confusing and disorientating the Catholic world", it would have been enough to do so privately.
Instead, "it is certain that the show and the stage were wanted for the sake of popularity", explains Badilla, because Bergoglio uses the regime's press as "an instrument of the government".
The visit followed "the familiar pattern of other visits, with an entourage of television operators, journalists and photographers, regularly warned of the 'surprise' arrival".
He dismisses Francis' assertion that "one must look at the people and not at what they do", quoting voices in the Vatican:
"Not bad, but inside the Church, in the hierarchy and the dioceses, in the Holy See, this axiom of mercy is rarely applied. Outside it is".
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