Why do we have to focus so much on Francis and "who he really is?" Does that really matter in the grand scheme of things, and why? Is there really so little else to talk about? After all, what can we really do about the status of the Pope?
Meg, this is the crux of your problem, you completely misunderstand the importance of the papacy. You also have a dangerous and nearly heretical and possibly schematic conception of the papacy. The pope is not just some elected leader who you can ignore if he is bad or if you don’t like him for some reason. He is the Vicar of Christ, he holds the keys, he is the one who Jesus appointed as head of the Church, the Rock on whom the Church was built. He who hears the pope hears Christ. To paraphrase Venerable Pius IX, he is tradition, he is the Church.
This nonchalant disregard for the papacy, is what really disturbs me about the hazardous path the the R&R position has taken in recent years. They have made the papacy superfluous.
One hugely important reason to know if the man dressed in white is the pope is because if he is a true pope and you knowingly separate yourself from him, you become a schismatic and thus a nonCatholic. Yes, it’s extremely important to know if the man dress in white is really the pope.