That is not Francis's way. His views seem more akin to those of Mother Theresa, who was often criticised by the Left for not taking a more systematic opposition to the excesses of capitalism. But her approach was that as a Catholic and as a human being she should provide support and solidarity for the marginalised. The technical questions about how best to run an economy so that it produces enough to sustain the basics of a good life for all its citizens is not the subject of church doctrine.
Nonetheless, as an expert in his own society, Francis has criticised both the IMF and some of the tenets of neoliberalism as it has been practised in some Latin American countries. In all of this, he is intellectually at one with his immediate predecessors. But this dimension of their statements and teachings never received much emphasis. It will be fascinating to see how Francis develops this side of his social teaching.
A few other points. His election will have an electrifying effect on all of Latin America. Argentines aren't naturally the most popular Latin Americans. They are more affluent than most of their continent and they are sometimes seen as too self-consciously proud of their European heritage. And Francis, after all, is the son of Italian migrants.
But this is a tiny qualification to what will be a continent-wide sense of vindication and arrival. Latin Americans often feel strangely isolated, despite their intimate connections to the US, and to Spain and Portugal. The continent is in some sense a world of its own. Francis himself betrayed something of this view when he said the cardinals, in selecting him, had gone "to the end of the Earth" to find a bishop for Rome.
Few Latin Americans occupy key international jobs. In many ways, the election of Francis is Latin America's most telling contribution so far to global leadership.
Although the vast majority of Latin Americans are Catholics, the church there is robustly challenged by ultra-activist, evangelical Protestant and Pentecostal movements. Something similar is happening in The Philippines. These churches are often more conservative than the Catholic Church, but they are also often more vigorous. Francis promises great dynamism and renewal in Latin America.
The old and utterly discredited allegations that he somehow didn't oppose the Argentine junta with sufficient vigour illustrate only that any Catholic cardinal anywhere in the world will confront some species of allegations about their past.
Francis faces immediate, specific challenges. He has to work out a way of confronting, in his papacy, the legacy of clerical child abuse. He must reform the Vatican bureaucracy, the Curia. This is a dull process task but it is essential. John Paul II ignored the Curia. Benedict tried to reform it but his will was too feeble. Francis is an outsider to the Curia but, as an experienced cardinal, knows all about how it operates - or, too often, doesn't operate. He needs a brilliant secretary of state whom he invests with full authority.
The main question mark over Francis is his age and health. His new job will require heroic vigour. He needs to manage himself carefully. Septuagenarians have often provided vigorous leadership: Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Konrad Adenauer. He can't micro-manage. He needs to teach and inspire.
The best form of leadership is to set the direction and appoint good people. Despite his age, Francis is emphatically post-post-Vatican II. He supports the so-called "new movements" in the Catholic Church, such as Communion and Liberation and the Neocatechumenal Way and many others which are vigorous and doctrinally orthodox.
It's a big, big job. But manifestly, he's a good man.
