Has the Catholic Church become too Pope-centric? 

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the cult of papal personality is not going away anytime soon

Pope Francis greets volunteers on his arrival in Singapore last Wednesday. Getting to 'see the Pope' anytime is a big experience for a lot of Catholics. Picture: Vincent Thian/AP

Do Popes matter? To many this will seem a trite question. The answer will come thundering back: Of course they do — hugely! Which prompts a more pertinent question: Do Popes matter too much today?

We can re-cast this as follows: Has the Catholic Church become too Pope-centric? Or too Pope-dependent, to put it another way. It wasn’t always so.