

You’re totally right about the fact that they’re supposed to follow the Pope, but they’re also throwing references to the Avignon Papacy.
It could also very well be a schism where you have the American cardinals declare the Pope is from their own ranks backed by the State while another is in Rome. We’ve already seen a superpower do this with Buddhism.




If it ever got out that they did that, it would kill their user base, which is not in their shareholders’ interest.