My argument is that a once outer circle has become the most innermost circle with the current pope in the middle of it.
I don’t think that he is smart enough or a forceful enough personality to be the middle. I think that the middle is probably unstable, and thus unfocused, but I may very well be wrong.
Otherwise, I probably largely agree with you, but think that the process has been gradual, and wouldn’t put any particular weight on the beginning or end of St. Pius X’s papacy.