"More Catholic than the pope," I believe that may also mean, referring not to loyalty but to intolerably unctuous and hypocritical sanctimony.
We do have that expression in this language, and "papist" is one of the old anti-Catholic (anti-Irish, anti-Italian, anti-Latin) slurs that actually survives, however deracinated, to the present.
One example of the sort of such slurs that did not survive is 'mackerel-snapper,' deriving from the pre-Vatican II meat fast observed on Fridays, which is also what first put a fish sandwich on McDonald's menu.
We do have that expression in this language, and "papist" is one of the old anti-Catholic (anti-Irish, anti-Italian, anti-Latin) slurs that actually survives, however deracinated, to the present.
One example of the sort of such slurs that did not survive is 'mackerel-snapper,' deriving from the pre-Vatican II meat fast observed on Fridays, which is also what first put a fish sandwich on McDonald's menu.