Regarding: "He has changed the system so that an incumbent pope can stack the college with bishops who support his views."
- ArchbFrancis of Rome is a literalist, at least in this. That is, he heads a universal church, so the face of the church should be just that, universal.
- As we know from JPII selecting hardworking bishops from hitherto unusual parts of the world is no guarantee of progressivenism or liberality. However men from across the globe do bring a font of understanding premised on lived experience in parts of the world not truly experienced by the church's center, the Holy See.
- As to the selection of the next archbishop of Rome; let us recall that Pius xi started out as someone who was open to adapting to the steady change in Europe occurring in those days. Then he discovered that it meant that he would not be universally loved and then he essentially retreated into a fortress Church of his own creation which maintained a siege mentality until Vatican II.