Francis did indeed have trouble in his role a Jesuit provincial in Argentina, and he has acknowledged he could have done better, but the initial images that emerged out of Argentine after he was elected have, I believe, now been shown to have been incorrect.

As for an iron fist in the Vatican, please tell me which pope other than Francis since V1 and formally and repeatedly invited bishops to speak their minds freely and fully?  Since V1, the demand of all other popes has been for lock-step fidelity to their oaths of loyalty from all bishops in their every public word. Iron fist? You got the wrong popes.

There is nothing to be inferred from by failure to refer to St. John Paul II as "saint", any more than there is meaning in my failure to refer to Francis and JP2 and B16 as popes.