How about the fact that in many ways JP2 was liberal?
He was for helping the poor.
He was against racial discrimination. <- (I think this bugged and confused a number of people)
He was adamantly against war and violence for any reason.
He was very well educated (j/k
)
Politcally, he balanced out between his left and right ideas.
Obviously, he was very conservative by a basic definition.
It's not that difficult to see why people could hope that the church would realize other modern ideas (i.e gay not evil, women priest)
I don't ever expect the Church's stance on abortion to change.
One thing I've always missed: What is the Catholic Church's opposition to invitro-fertilization.
One last point, I would have to say people on the right follow the teachings of Christ about as pourly as those on the left. It's just a matter of which things each side considers the bigger sin.