Fuck sorry long post but here it goes. TD;LR he was the avatar of the conserative wing of the church in a historic moment and was very responsible for the cover up of the abuses

To try and give a little more background. The Catholic church has a WIDE range of political beliefs and interests. There are Jesuits in Latin America who spoke out against far right dictatorships knowing it would have them tortured and murdered because they knew it was the only thing that could get US to end military support. This is the background Francis comes from although he was not apart of them. There are also far right reactionaries who had questionable connections to fascists movements in Europe. During the same era.

So at the dawn of this era the Catholic Church sets out to make the biggest change its ever done. Like the biggest change since the counter reformation and maybe even since the Niche Council. Vacant 2. The purpose was to bring the Church in line with the modern world and remove some of the things that were hold overs of the medieval era. The most visible was the introduction of mass in the vernacular tongue. No more latin mass except for some sepcial services. Most defendable was the change in doctrine that was blatantly antisemetic, it is no longer church canon that Jews are going to hell purely for being jewish. This second one demostrares why, after WW2, V2 had to happen. There are various other modernizing trends paving the way for the Catholic Church to be seen as something that could exist in a world with womens rights and secularism. It was controversial to say the least. Overseeing it all was the indescribably beloved Pope John Paul II. I cant exactly sum up what he meant especially because I wasnt alive them. My best guess at why he was so impactful was he represented world leadership, the type that many felt were missing from the Church during WW2. He served as a bit of a middle man in eastern Europe between the west and the USSR. He was literally sainted.

However, not everyone loved what he did. The "trad caths" as theyre nicknamed preferred a pre-V2 world where the church had unquestioning moral authority. Some even split off new sects of the church with wild latin names I cant remember. There are stories of priests tearing up rosaries and saying V2 made them heretical and all kinds of crazy shit from that era. Benedict was more or less JP's #2 and he represented the conservative wing of the church that had such concerns. His best quality is also that hes a massive nerd. He went over thousands of years of church and religious doctrine to justify V2. If V2 was on trail Benny was the defense attorny. He was also from the conservative community who mostly opposed it. This one him a lot of respect.

So remember who JP was so beloved. Well he got old. Really old. He became largely unable to function. His number two Benedict largely took over as his secretary. During this time the pedophilic abuse scandles happened. The specifics are very controversial but largely I think the results speak for themselves. Bemedict as secretary for JP directed the policy of hinding abuser priests by moving them around. It should be self evident the damage this policy had. I dont know enough about it this was a new unoffical policy or an old one but it is what it is. Also the abuse of nuns is under discussed but whenever the church does try to address the abuse issues they include this topic so they are aware it is also very much an issue even if the media isn't.

So Benedict becomes Pope. He governs extraordinaroly conseratively. The church becomes the face of the pro life movement, the anti condom movement even in the face of the aids crisis, and there is open distain for anyone even bringing up the abuses. The best comparison I can give is its treated like hate speach. He softened on the condom thing by the end for what its worth. Benedict has said that he wanted the focus of his papacy to be environmentalism, gods call to care for the earth. I can only speak antidotally but as a catholic who grew up in his tenure I heard about abortion every day but I never heard about the environment once.

Then something called vatileak happens. A former aid to Benny Boy leaks a lot of private documents. It confirms a lot of the abuse scadals but also corruption. Countless priests were being blackmailed for being gay by people outside the church and countless money was going to paying them off. This was the straw that broke the camels back. On top of this Benedict its argued could be arrested in Italy or any other country if he ever left VC for his role in the abuse cover ups. The Pope was, as he was in WW2, under seige in Vatican City.

Its hard for those who dont know to describe how hated he was even among Catholics some of whom felt the need to defend him and others who resented the association. A common insult was that he was a nazi. This was a half truth, he was in the Nazi youth which was technically required so he didn't have a choice. But still. He was a nazi.

So along comes Francis. The first Jeusit Pope. The Jeusits are hard to explain. Theyre fanatics like arguably the most fanatical but theyre also progressives. Theyre controversial. They were founded in the reformation by a wounded soilder who wanted to take the idea of a soilders discipline to being a priest. Their biggest deviation is how they define "good works". Unlike the classic definition of acts of spirtual devotion the Jesuits define it as acts of charity and social justice. Confronting oppression, inequality, and giving comfort to those who need it. Its been adopted more widly in the church in the last few decades. Its not to say that their record is spottless, they were some of the most fanatical evangelic colonizers due to their afformentioned fanaticism. A jesuit also played a key role in the popularity of the Protecals of the Elders of Zion which had horrific implications (see again why V2 had to happen). However, ultimately this was the reformist radical 'left' branch of the church that had spent that last half century fighting against capitalism, dictatorship, and US imperialism in Latin America while the more conserative branch was disowning them and fighting communism in Europe. Francis was not one of the leading radicals (who frankly were all dead) but he was deeply respected. I cant express how much of a surprise it was he was elected. An elder reformer coming out of the most radical and left wing branch of the Catholic church becoming Pope. Not only not from Italy but not from Europe but from Latin America where Martyrs were disowned by the church not even a century prior.

He would take the name Francis for a man who gave away all worldly posseions. He would also see that aforementioned Martyr sainted in his first year as Pope.

The two Popes is the story of this passing of the tourch from someone whose greatest work was showing that the Church's reforms were not a departure from the old ways and a new voice that had long been denied by Rome. It humanizes them both in a way that is incredibly important but also not all that historically accurate. Franics had no love he left behind and his role as a turncoat against his radical brothers is overstated and Benedict well...you can draw your own conclusions about him