Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Con­nor summed it up as he twirled the last of the spaghetti all’Amatriciana around the plate with his fork. “Pope Francis is implementing the Second Vatican Council,” he told me over lunch last year in one of his favourite trattorias, La Quercia, just off Rome’s Piazza Farnese.

It was as neat a summary of the programme of this papacy as any that I have heard. And, Cardinal Cormac went on, three words encapsulate Francis’ vision for the Church. The first is collegiality, seen in the character of the men that the Pope is selecting to be cardinals and bishops, and the expectation that they will be tireless preachers of the Gospel and pastors who share the joys and struggles of their people.