Louie Verrecchio hitting the nail on the head:

https://akacatholic.com/leo-xiv-international-man-of-mystery/

So they actually did the same thing when they put Zelensky into office.  Since he had no prior baggge, nobody could call him on whether or not he was lying during the campaign regarding some of his positions and promises.  Few people knew that he ran on a pro-Russia (or at least get along with Russia) platform, but then within days of getting into office initiated the bombing of Russia speakers in Eastern Ukraine.  But people didn't know whether he was lying because he had no history ... other than of lame and bawdy nonsense that he passed off as comedy.

That may be why they selected this guy.  If he shows a Traditional side to him, well, it's hard for people to know if it's fake or genuine.  Now, had Bergoglio come in and somehow acted Traditional, you'd know he was completely full of it, since he had a long history of being a Leftist with no use for Tradition.

Ratzinger, on the other hand, while he had the Modernist / heretical background, they enlisted Wojtyla's PR machine to transform him into "God's Rotweiler" after JP2 appointed him to the Office formerly known as Holy.  So by the time he was elected, everyone was convinced that he had become a conservative / Traditionalist somehow.

He came out of absolutely nowhere and became one of the most powerful men in the Vatican.  Why?

My guess is that they already knew where they planned to go next after Bergoglio.  "Hmm, we want to fool a lot of people that he leans Trad and finish reabsorbing SSPX.  We need someone who's not a Trad but we can pass off as being a Trad, mostly because he has no history or background.  Hmmm.  Prevost has said almost nothing ever about theology but just re-tweets stuff against Trump and Vance, and the little he does say no one can decipher since it's just nonsensical word salad.  He's the guy."