Political choice is unavoidable in biblical studies and theology. Understanding this places recent church pronouncements in perspective. These texts are pervasively political in character. Some commentators have described them as sunset documents, pronouncements designed to frame the succession struggle that comes at the end of this papal administration. They are that, and more.
Autocratic systems breed dissimulation.
Subordinates feign agreement. The career-minded censor their own opinions, sometimes to the extent that they stop thinking independently at all. If alert, those who cling to power will have prepared a maze of regulations and paper walls to close off the likelihood that the unexpected opinions might prevail. They will stifle potential questioners as far down the ranks as possible. This program is well underway.