Pope Francis and Peronism

Nick Miroff has an article in the Washington Post about Pope Francis' background. The headline (for which authors are not responsible!) is terrible: "You Can't Understand Pope Francis Without Juan Perón--and Evita." It's awful for two reasons. First, Miroff doesn't argue that at all so the headline is misleading. Second, focusing on Evita will cause people to miss the most important point.

The point we need to repeat is that Pope Francis criticizes unbridled capitalism but does not call for socialism. That is the extent of the Peronist analogy and it has nothing to do with Evita.  It has nothing to do with being a "strongman."

I have a feeling that when he visits the United States next month we're going to hear all sorts of BS about caudillos, socialism, Evita, and what have you. All of these concepts are completely misunderstood in the United States anyway. Ignore that stuff and listen to what he actually says.