An hour had passed since the death of Pope Francis yesterday morning and already the BBC people were asking bewildered guests about his "legacy". There’s always got to be a legacy, right? Social convenors of darts clubs these days are barely into the second pint at their leaving party before someone asks about their "legacy".

The modern concept of legacy doesn’t really apply in the Catholic Church. There’s little scope for a new Pope to breenge in and start throwing out all the old furniture. Its fundamental teachings will never change.

You’re always having to suppress a chuckle when well-meaning naifs tell you that the Catholic Church must become more relevant to the modern world and that it must move with the times if it wants to get more bums on seats. It’s all about the feels after all.

The Church though, is worthless without its one fundamental purpose: to teach the truth as it was revealed to the 12 apostles by the Holy Spirit 2,000 years ago. If everyone chooses to reject that truth, then there’s really not much that can be done about it. It’s not negotiable. Its adherence to what it considers to be the truth though, has helped it see off persecution, false witness and the weight of its own man-made corruptions.

The Church’s permanence and its resistance to the shifting and gaseous political fetishes of the age are its main strengths. If it had been a human-made structure, prey to the whims, caprices and prejudices of mere mortals, then it should have fallen a long time ago.

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Somehow, a group of 12 ill-educated, mainly working-class men lacking money, influence and any of the social graces managed to face down the might of the Roman........

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