He is the face of Catholicism.
Bear in mind that "the position of the pope as supreme head of the Church" and "and the duty thence arising of submission to the pope in order to belong to the Church and thus to attain salvation."-- November 18, 1302, Pope Boniface VIII Papal bull Unam sanctam
The disdain expressed lately by Catholics for this pope is at a very high level these days.
There was a time that OTC Christians were accused of bashing Catholics by exposing this pope as a heretic.
So no longer does anyone have to be in submission to the pope and belong to the Catholic Church to attain salvation.
Of course mainstream Christianity (sans Catholicism) has never believed that as it is not scriptural.
Belonging to the actual body of Christ (membership attained by believing in Jesus and being born again) is a necessity for salvation and makes the new believer a member of Christ's body.
Here’s the thing. Catholic teaching teaches that manifest heretics lose their office ipso facto. In other words, a manifest heretic pope is no pope at all. As a result, no submission is necessary nor required.