Is Pope Francis mean to people in private? Cardinal Muller has some choice words for the Pope

Pope Francis works in a high pressure environemnt and sets high expectatioons. Not everyone gets along.

Is Pope Francis secretly mean? How could it be that the man loved by 1.2 billion Catholics, famed for his humility and acts of compassion could be considered mean?  According to high profile comments from insiders who have worked with him, Pope Francis is a tough boss.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- In public, Pope Francis is the image of an affable grandfather. He goes out of his way to coddle children, take selfies with youngsters, and he has sent letters and much needed help to people around the world. He sent his almoner into the streets, and upgraded Vatican City to be hospitable for the homeless, including the installation of showers and a laundry facility.

He has taken a small car for transportation as opposed to something ostentatious. He has never set foot in the papal apartment to which he is entitled, residing in a small guest house instead. When a Swiss Papal Guard nearly fainted from exhaustion, he made the soldier a sandwich. What's there not to love?

Plenty, some insiders say. Pope Francis is a man on a mission. Not only does he seek to remind the faithful of the importance of loving a humble, Christlike life, he is also there to clean up the corruption and excess in the Vatican.

Under his leadership, administrators who thought their lives were set have been dismissed. Bishops and other clerics living in excess have been called to the Vatican to answer for their behavior. They have been dismissed and handed strict penances. The bishops know, humility and service are the rule.

The guilty dislike Pope Francis because he enforces justice. He expects capable and competent administration from his subordinates. This is reasonable. Those who cannot meet his expectations are handed their hat and replaced. This is what healthy leadership looks like. Pope Francis is not there to train people how to how to do their jobs, or to reform their excesses. Like any top-level organization, every employee is must be exceptional. It's also true that not everybody gets along.

There are concerns. High ranking officials who seem competent, but who have disagreed with him on questions of doctrine have been dismissed from their posts. Most recently, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect for the Congregation of the Faith, was dismissed; the pope declined to renew his 5-year contract. Such renewals are almost automatic, but two days before his contract expired, Muller reported meeting Pope Francis and was curtly told his contract would not be renewed. The meeting was private and brief.

Cardinal Muller reported that he was stunned and humiliated. He called to speak to an old friend, Cardinal Joachim Meisner. Meisner was one of four cardinals who questioned Pope Francis on the topic of offering communion to divorced Catholics. The Cardinal expressed his concerns about the Pope, and offered encouragement. Sadly, the elderly Cardinal Meisner passed away that same night. The Cardinal was 83.

Cardinal Muller, now upset following the loss of his job and his friend, gave an interview to the German press. In the interview, he suggested the Pope follows different rules when it comes to his workers. And he stated that the social teaching of the Church must apply within the Vatican as well as without. He revealed Pope Francis often dismisses unsatisfactory staff without explanation.

There is little to criticize from Muller's tenure, so many wonder if the cardinal was dismissed because he dared to express a contrary possibility to Pope Francis.

Muller's anecdotes aren't the only ones that prompt these questions.

To the uniformed outsider, these reports might be troubling.

The Church is an ancient institution and it has a long, storied history of controversy. Debate is a common feature in a properly working organization, and the Vatican is no exception. It could be that Pope Francis is a tough, hard man in private. It could also be a case of sour grapes. It doesn't matter.

The Church requires debate and discussion to work out differences just like any other institution. This should not be construed as a crisis or a growing schism. Popes have dismissed subordinates before, and occasionally those subordinates have made public comments that were less than kind.

A pope is a man, just like a cardinal, a bishop, a priest, or you and me. We are all given to foibles and idiosyncrasies. Even Jesus Christ did not get along with everyone. In fact, He created bitter enemies wherever He went. Some people may dislike Pope Francis, but we cannot think of one person who wishes him arrested and tortured!

Pope Francis continues to model Christlike behavior to the faithful. He still goes out of his way to show affection, performs random acts of kindness, and still manages to oversee the single largest institution in the world aside from the government of China. He and his cardinals will disagree over the fine points of doctrine. That's their job. But our job, and Cardinal Muller's job is presently to show Christlike love and kindness to all we encounter. That is a job from which we can never be fired. God will take care of the Church, and God will dispense justice to popes and cardinals alike.

So, is Pope Francis a mean guy? Like all of us, perhaps sometimes, but we have more important things to worry about in our own homes. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.