Like the Catholic Church, which it resembles more than either would like, the Communist Party maintains that it has a monopoly on the truth. When Stalin turned on his fellow Old Bolsheviks, therefore, they had nowhere to go. They had to be wrong, or their entire lives as prominent members of an infallible organization were a lie, but how? In the end, they were liquidated with minimal fuss, because they weren’t capable of meaningful resistance.
Catholic reactionaries managed to avoid that dilemma as long as Benedict was alive, because they could tell themselves that he was the real pope, and Francis was just a usurper. The obvious historical analogy there was to the 18th century Jacobites. But what do they do now? If they do battle with Francis, they are effectively making themselves a kind of right-wing Protestant. If they don’t, his bright blue papacy could change their beloved Church beyond recognition. It’s a serious dilemma.
I would feel sorry for them if they weren’t determined to impose their values on me, liberal democracy be damned. I’m not interested in living in a theocracy. I’m guessing you aren’t, either.