Ser más papista que el Papa
To be more papist than the Pope.
to be more Catholic than the Pope; **to be more Catholic than the Pope**; **to be more strict than the people in charge**; **to be more orthodox than the orthodox**; **to take something to extremes**; **to be stricter than necessary**
Ser más papista que el Papa means to be more strict, orthodox or uncompromising about something than the person or authority who originally established or represents it.
No hace falta ser más papista que el Papa: podemos hacer una excepción.
There's no need to be more Catholic than the Pope; we can make an exception.
El propio director permite esa práctica, pero el nuevo jefe es más papista que el Papa.
The director himself allows that practice, but the new boss is stricter than the people in charge.
No seas más papista que el Papa y déjame entrar aunque haya llegado cinco minutos tarde.
Don't be more Catholic than the Pope. Let me in even though I'm five minutes late.
Los inspectores fueron más papistas que el Papa y aplicaron la norma al pie de la letra.
The inspectors were stricter than necessary and applied the rule to the letter.
Incluso los responsables del proyecto son flexibles con ese punto; tú estás siendo más papista que el Papa.
Even the people in charge of the project are flexible about that point; you're being more Catholic than the Pope.
It is used when someone insists on following a rule or principle to an excessive degree, even when the people directly responsible for that rule are more flexible.
A common construction is:
Ser más papista que el Papa.
→ To be more Catholic than the Pope / to be more strict than the people in charge.
- follows rules excessively strictly
- insists on formalities that even the authorities do not insist on
- is more orthodox than the people who created or defend a doctrine
- refuses reasonable exceptions
- takes a principle further than its original advocates intended
The expression is based on the figure of the Pope, the highest authority in the Catholic Church.
Someone who is papista is, figuratively, a defender or follower of the Pope. Being more papista than the Pope himself is therefore an absurd exaggeration: it means adopting a position even more strict or orthodox than that of the ultimate authority.
The expression became a general metaphor and is now commonly used outside religious contexts.
Although the expression has a religious origin, modern Spanish speakers use it very frequently in completely secular contexts.
For example:
El reglamento permite cierta flexibilidad, pero él es más papista que el Papa.
The speaker is not making a statement about religion. They are criticising someone for being unnecessarily strict about rules.
It often carries a humorous or mildly critical tone.
The expression has an interesting logical structure: the Pope himself represents the maximum possible degree of "papism", so being more papista than the Pope is deliberately paradoxical.
That paradox is what makes the expression effective: it mocks someone who follows a principle so rigidly that they have gone beyond even its supposed ultimate authority.
English has the same expression:
to be more Catholic than the Pope
However, Spanish uses it particularly naturally when criticising excessive strictness or orthodoxy.
It can therefore often be translated more naturally as:
to be stricter than necessary
or:
to be more strict than the people in charge.
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