Francis’ interpretation of Catholic social teaching certainly sounds more radical than that of his predecessors. In Argentina he insisted that his priests should see the world through the eyes of the poor, by living among them, and he brought that approach with him to Rome. Evangelii Gaudium – the document which got Rush Limbaugh so worked up – argues that inequality creates “a state of social sin that cries to Heaven”. Pope Frances has also said that unemployment is “the result of a worldwide choice, of an economic system that led to this tragedy, an economic system that has at its centre a false God, a false God called money”.

Philip Booth, a Catholic economist who works at the London free-market think tank the Institute for Economic Affairs, suggests Francis’s views are close to those of the Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee and the left-wing French economist Thomas Piketty, whose book on inequality became an international bestseller last year.

He describes Francis as a “corporatist” who believes in a big state, and argues the Pope’s statements are “dangerous” because they could “lead us to bad policy”.

The answer to the question posed in the title of this piece is “No”. There is lots for those on the left to admire in Pope Francis, and lots for those on the right to be scandalised by, but he is not a communist.