[bonzini]

> Nothing he did was really far out of line with Catholic doctrine

Maybe he was merely good at pointing out the obvious, maybe it's what the church needed/needs?

[matteoraso]

Yeah, I can see that. Having a pope that's denounced by more conservative Catholics for truly believing in Catholic ethics shone a light on how far people were straying from the church. Really makes the pope look a bit like a Christ figure, when you think of it like that.