Princess Gloria (...) has grown into the sun queen around which many traditionalist Roman Catholics opposed to Pope Francis orbit.
Her Regensburg castle is a potential “Gladiator School” for conservative Catholics on a crusade to preserve church traditions.
Her Roman palace overlooking the ancient forum is a preferred salon for opposition cardinals, bitter bishops and populists like Stephen K. Bannon. Many of them are hoping to use the sex abuse crisis that amounts to the greatest existential threat to the church in centuries to topple the 81-year-old pontiff, who they are convinced is destroying the faith. (...)
She argued that instead of the pope’s emphasis on inclusion, the church needed to honor its laws and doctrines (...).
“We need to fight for the church,” she said, adding that Benedict had instilled in her the desire to “fight for the faith — not only to save the tradition, to save the faith, but also to fulfill your duties.” (...)
Several of Princess Gloria’s close friends have had a rough time under Pope Francis. Last year, the pope fired Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the German cardinal and critic who was the church’s doctrinal watchdog. At her Rome palace, she introduced the cardinal to Mr. Bannon, who subsequently invited the German to his Washington headquarters, better known as the Breitbart Embassy. (...) Mr. Bannon (...) himself sees the pope as a destructive force in the church.