Let me suggest the unexpected alternative. Francis, as a bishop, was always hard to pin down, and when people tried to he usually proved them very far from the mark.
I use that in a lead up to this: sometimes the best way to kill ideas, or to knock down a contentious group that work to undermine “the system”, is to send up a “trial balloon” of their ideas. This not only shoots down those bad ideas, but exposes those who advocated them.
Of course the Vatican is seldom though of a palace of intrigues, conspiracies, cabals and Byzantine plots — heh, heh.
Yet if this were the case, Francis and others now know who are pushing for “modernity”, yet he can remain above the fray and dagger fights. Triangulation.
>>>This not only shoots down those bad ideas, but exposes those who advocated them.
It worked for Mao: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign