A distasteful dispute over whether Benedict is a co-author or just a contributor to a book defending priestly celibacy is being seen as part of a deliberate strategy to undermine the reforms of Pope Francis – a plot into which the Pope Emeritus has been drawn unwittingly as an ally

Picture the scene. Over the first seven years of his papacy, the latest successor of St Peter makes a series of eye-catching reforms. He returns to live in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace and decides to travel around in a chauffeur-driven limousine. He appoints new cardinals from Italy and wealthy dioceses in the United States and replaces the few women who hold senior roles in the Vatican with priests. The synod of bishops meetings are quietly muzzled, and the ordination of married men to serve in the Amazon region at the request of the local bishops, which his predecessor had permitted, is wound down. Friends of the retired Pope, whose pontificate had focused on missionary outreach to the world’s poorest, beg him to speak out. Yet he remains silent.

This role reversal is worth considering when reflecting on the “two popes” saga that has rocked the Vatican in recent days. As the drama over Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah’s book was reaching fever pitch, I bumped into a cardinal a stone’s throw from St Peter’s Square. “This will pass,” he said of the unfolding drama. “But even if they wanted a new pope to ‘go back’, it’s not possible. Too much has happened.”