One of the biggest questions about Pope Francis is whether he will be a politically active pontiff who — much as he has done in Argentina — will be a thorn in the side of leftist-populist governments throughout Latin America. Some say he will.

During his years as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and head of Argentina’s Conference of Bishops, the new pope, 76-year-old Jorge Mario Bergoglio, had an often tense relationship with the governments of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her late husband, former President Nestor Kirchner. The former president once accused Bergoglio, a Jesuit, of being “a real spokesman for the opposition.”