In addition to the obvious position-of-authority thing, it might be relevant that the Pope’s weirdness is a factor of (or at least can easily be attributed to) his situation, not his disposition (as honesty would be).
The Pope is a good neutral third party. He has taken the consolation prize of being the World’s Most Moral Man because he can’t be Vladimir Putin or Barack Obama, both of whom have more friends and more power.
Pope’s weird. Wouldn’t have much status if he were normal, he’d just be Chair (not CEO) of a large international corporation.
In addition to the obvious position-of-authority thing, it might be relevant that the Pope’s weirdness is a factor of (or at least can easily be attributed to) his situation, not his disposition (as honesty would be).
The Pope is a good neutral third party. He has taken the consolation prize of being the World’s Most Moral Man because he can’t be Vladimir Putin or Barack Obama, both of whom have more friends and more power.