Credibility is absolutely essential to viable leadership,
whether in religion, politics, or business. A leader who undercuts one of his
or her promises effectively expunges it of any worth and is essentially a “lame-duck”
leader thereafter unless he or she puts difficult effort into becoming worthy
of being trusted again. It does not take long for followers to get the message
if one of them who relied on the promise is punished for doing so. Chairman Mao
is infamous for having made such a promise in the Hundred Flowers movement.
Unfortunately, he killed many Chinese who relied on Mao’s word. A similar
dynamic, though much less extreme, occurred just after a synod in 2014 called
by Pope Francis, who in this respect can be likened to Mao. Fortunately for the
Catholic pope, his own religion offers him a way out.
The full essay is at "Pope Francis Goes on the Offensive"
