There can be little doubt that many ‘protestors’ described in the article, operating in name of the Church, were fascists definitely invoking fascist methods in trying to ensure the Pope was from their political dogmatic position. Not a faith-based lower-case ‘c’ church institution following a theological position, but a capital ‘C’ Church as a political entity and position. I again make clear I was talking about the Church as a political Empire, not the faith-based Catholic religious themselves. This I hope was clear in my reference to The Roman Catholic (Empire) Church. In point of fact, there was a Holy Roman Empire, a resurrection of the Roman Empire, created by a Pope as a ‘state/political’ arm of the Roman Catholic Church. There was, and some would argue, still is a Holy Roman Empire closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church, so as to be relatively interchangeable depending on the purpose.
My point is that fascism is far more prevalent in our Western culture than many realize. It is, indeed, the current Western zeitgeist. It is not just a movement to influence State Elections, but to entrench itself in every facet of human governance, including the leadership of the Church (and, I posit, the church - all churches).