Shortly before Christmas 2014 Pope Francis told members of the Roman Curia that they often suffered from “the pathology of power”, which produced a “superiority complex”. Such blunt statements from a chief executive might be followed by a shake-up of head office manpower – there are virtually no women involved, which may be part of the problem – but there was little sign of it.

Eighteen months on, he explained his management methods a little further. If obstructive officials were like nails, he hammered them further into the wood rather than cut them off at the head. By which he meant, apparently, that he waits for them to retire rather than sacking them. “They do their job and I do mine,” he told the Argentine newspaper La Nación. “They say no to everything. I continue straight on my way, without looking over my shoulder.”