Taken as a whole, it shows why his rather extreme expression of "I am the church, I am the tradition!" amounted neither to Church doctrine nor to Church discipline, but rather was a private cry of exasperation against people who in effect were poised to give the authority of the Church over to the State.
Which is just what --- horrifyingly --- the Peronist Pope has done in China, in arguably the worst (some would say, criminal) move of his pontificate.
And how would it be different than giving his authority over to the lay Catholic? Because if he abdicates due to the lay Catholic protests, he is doing just that.