IRELAND
Irish Central

James O’Shea @irishcentral February 16,2015

Pope Francis is deeply unpopular with many conservatives in the Vatican, an Irish priest who campaigns for a more open church has stated.

Fr Tony Flannery (68) said German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller is the leader of the anti-Francis group.

Muller heads up the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the group that has opposed any liberalizing moves.

“Müller is the leader of an anti-Francis faction in the Vatican in Rome,” he told the Marian Finucane show on RTE Radio.

“He would generally be seen as the leader of that. There is an enormous power struggle going on in the Vatican at the moment. There’s no doubt about that.

“A lot of people there who are very unhappy with the type of thing that Francis is doing…He [Francis] hasn’t as yet touched the power of the CDF, and the…