Any way you cut it, this is far too much spiritual obedience given to a member of the laity. Plinio was a very articulate and intelligent man to be sure, combined with a forceful personality. Perhaps too forceful! The Plinio "litany" may have been a mocking parody, but the more Atila reveals, the more I can see the underlying truth behind it. He may have held public office earlier in his career, but at the time of the TFP's founding he was neither a man of secular or religious authority. A distinguished man with a gift for language and many great insights? Certainly. As much of a scholar he may have been, this is way over the top for a man who had not taken vows himself:
"the assistance that the great founder of the family of souls of the TFP, Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, gives to each one of those whom the grace has called to participate in his most high and most ardent vocation, even though they be weak and small. How many weaknesses sustained by his firm hand, how many defects cured by his efficacious remedies, how many shortcomings transcended by his continuous support, how many thirsts for good and justice satiated by limpid waters of confidence, how much hunger for truth filled at the banquet table of orthodoxy!"
If he was accustomed to such overflowing praise in his lifetime, it's not hard to see how it could have warped his judgement.