The “closer ties” would be, of course with Satan. Unfortunately, the modern popes and bishops continue to use the word “Catholic” although they have been moving steadily away form the true teachings of the Church for many years. In fact, many Catholics and Protestants are now recognizing that there is little distinction between the services and teachings of many modern bishops and priests of the Catholic Church, and the services and teachings of most Protestant denominations.
The Catholic Church, however, has not changed in any way. Indeed, the Church herself is precisely as she was created by Jesus Christ some two thousand years ago. Nevertheless, the current leaders of the Church have been infected with the heresy of Modernism and have been leading the faithful in a diabolical direction since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). This kowtowing to the false and demonic religion of Islam is but one recent example of this behavior.
Sadly, most modern Catholics in the pews have been unwilling to make the effort to learn what has truly happened to the religion that they profess, and are blindly following each other down a very destructive path. A great many have drifted away altogether. But those who will make that effort would learn that there is only one priestly organization that has continued to profess and follow the true teachings of the Catholic Church, and that is the Society of St Pius X (SSPX).
The popes and the modern bishops of Rome despise the SSPX because they recognize that the priests of the Society do not deviate in any way whatsoever from the exact same teachings and liturgy of the Church that were extant prior to Vatican II. The Chapels where they celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) are growing in number and are now widely available to anyone with an interest on following the true teachings of the Catholic Church.
Do they despise them? It seems to me that as long as the SSPX continues to recognize their orders and positions as legitimate they only help them, not hurt them.
There is a great difference between the teachings of the Catholic Church even SSPX and Protestants. The confessional biblically based Protestants teach the simple truth of the gospel without the catholic heresies thrown in - both pre and post Vatican II heresies. I beg to disagree that we are anything like modern or premodern catholics
The only Protestants that are similar to modern catholocs are the liberal apostate mainline churches that have left the Truth of the gospel for a popular social justice platform