Should critics of the Church who take themselves too seriously be taken seriously?

By such description, I do mean critics who seem to disparage their subjects with great wit and, as I pictured it, a wink and a smug smile. I didn't make it through the Introduction before noticing such a habit from "Ten Popes who Shook the World." Describing somone as being "of limited intelligence" easily gets me. I would have thought that a highly esteemed scholar would be beyond such things. Not that I'm beyond uncharitable comments and thoughts, either. Pride is perhaps at the root of many sins of mine, some quite habitual. But I'm not a published writer of such works. I am certainly no professor. I probably do lack confidence in conducing myself in many ways, but I don't think I could do with more arrogance. Less, in this case, when offering critiques of another human being, is definitely best.