"The Dictator Pope," written by H.J.A. Sire under the pen name Marcantonio Colonna, sets out to be an exposé on the reign and personality of Pope Francis.

Initially published in Italian in 2017 before an expanded English edition was made available the following year, "The Dictator Pope" is now in paperback. The book chronicles the life of Jorge Bergoglio and his semi-unexpected journey to the papacy.

Even as coronavirus dominates the news, the pope remains a figure whose every utterance draws international attention — and, more often than not, controversy.

The book places special emphasis on the Argentinian pope's ties to Peronism, the socialist ideology that has dominated his native country almost completely since World War II. The author, in fact, uses Juan Peron, strong-man president of Argentina from 1945-55 and 1973 until his death a year later, as a backdrop to explain the worldview of the modernist and controversial pope.

Pope Francis initially appears in the book as a harbinger of change and fellowship among apostolic equals, only to do nothing short of betray them if they cross him or interfere with his agenda. The book documents the progressive (and little-known) St. Gallen's Group that conspired to undermine Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, and install Francis as the pontiff.

Also explored is how Francis used his outward persona of humility to ascend the ranks of the church rapidly in Argentina and how his Machiavellian actions from his earliest days as Father Bergoglio persisted after his election during the 2013 Papal Conclave.

Moreover, the book examines every Vatican scandal that has transpired under Francis' reign from a historical perspective — noting breaks with papal tradition, previously made statements and promises, and even church teaching.

The most damning charge of hypocrisy made against Francis in the book comes from the chapter titled "Reform? What Reform." Here, the author outlines — and offers considerable evidence of — every instance in which Francis not only backed away from his promises, mission statements, and the like, but did the opposite of what he previously stated.

Francis lowered the punishments for priests who committed mortal sins of clerical sexual abuse of minors and others, "applying his vision of a merciful church even to its worst offenders." Yet, at the beginning of the Year of Mercy, Francis suggested that those who criticize the pope should incur the excommunication prescribed by canon law for those who offer physical violence to the pontiff, on the grounds that "words too are rocks and stones."

The Year of Mercy was in 2016, a mere three years after the publication of Francis' encyclical "Evangelii Gaudium" that condemned "authoritarians who discredit those who raise questions, constantly point out the mistakes of others, and are obsessed by appearances," the book reads.

The book is well written, researched, and makes a concrete argument that Pope Francis has a Peronist or Machiavellian streak, a sharp and "rumbling" temper, and is highly agenda-driven concerning his pontificate.

However, if the self-professed traditionalists read this book, all that it accomplishes, aside from documenting Francis' noteworthy scandals, is to confirm what they already knew. Indeed, the book only hints toward its conclusion that Francis is causing severe tension between the two factions within the church hierarchy: his supporters and his conservative/traditionalist detractors.

While the book mentions that Francis' actions may eventually erupt in seismic schism over church teaching, it provides no solutions other than for Roman Catholics to wait for the next claimant to the Seat of St. Peter and to pray that he doesn't have a likeness to its current occupant.

The wishful thinking on Sire's part at the end of this book is so apparent that he must have forgotten the very aspect of human nature that controls the election at a Papal Conclave: free will.

The reader might be advised to remember that no matter which conclave it may be, the invocation of the Holy Ghost is but one part of the formula. The other part is that the cardinals must individually choose to allow the Holy Ghost to guide them and their vote.

Perhaps Sire was not expecting to be expelled from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta when he revealed that he published this book under a pen name. One has to wonder where will he go now that it seems he has crossed the Rubicon on Francis. If Francis is as dictatorial as Sire believes him to be, what, then, is the chance of upholding his appeal to be reinstated as a Knight of Malta?

Once again, the woeful and lamenting "traditionalists" in the post-Vatican II Church are left high and dry at the end of another "traditionalist" book. Is it not plain to see that the resist-from-within strategy is without fruit when it comes to reforming the now half century of reform within the Catholic Church?

While "The Dictator Pope" may not offer traditionalists much hope for a major shift in the direction the Catholic Church is headed, the book nonetheless offers one of the most insightful views of one of the most controversial religious figures of our time and is definitely worth reading.

Michael Cozzi is a doctoral candidate at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.