Three years ago the “Red Hat Report”, an attempt to compile potentially damaging dossiers on cardinals in a bid to prevent a repeat of the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, was launched. It hasn’t been the only attempt at “opposition research”.
In The Outsider, my investigation of the forces Pope Francis is struggling with as he reforms the Church, I wrote about Steve Bannon’s encouragement of Italy’s then-interior minister, Matteo Salvini, to attack the Pope. I reported the claim that Bannon, a former chief strategist of Donald Trump charged with fraud but pardoned by the ex-president, had urged Salvini to undermine bishops close to Francis.
05 August 2021, The Tablet
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