I don’t believe Pope Francis would have said that. But who can contradict it now that it’s out on the net?
One of the reasons BXVI resigned, I believe, was that this happened to him more than once: unattributed “quotes” coming from people who had a vested interest in bringing him down. And he was too old and frail to control them.
I’m inclined to agree. The rad trads are very upset (and their schismatic tendencies came out on the first day when they slimed the new pope on the basis of the tiniest shreds of evidence. They are all convinced he’s liturgically tin-eared, as most Jesuits are.
He may indeed be that. But even if he is, it’s not the end of the world (and I write that as one devoted to the Extraordinary Form but not to the exclusion of the NO) and so the incredible overreaction was way out of line.
I’m guessing this quotation is a distortion of something that did happen (he may indeed have rejected the ermine-trimmed cape, which does have a technical name, but the BBC could be caught dead mentioning it, but even if he chose not to wear it I very much doubt he said the words put in his mouth here), a distortion DELIBERATELY spread abroad in the press by his enemies who seek to split off from him all those who love the old liturgy and traditions.
Divide and conquer.