There are a lot of areas I disagree (from mildly to strongly) with the Catholic Church teachings and Pope Francis's declarations. There are also a lot of areas I agree with them.
The problem is that everyone (at least in the US) seems to expect the Pope (and the Church, but let's focus on the former as being more understandable) to either be on Our Side or on Their Side, to conform to a standard Left/Right classification.
But the Pope doesn't do that. Church doctrine doesn't conform to the US Left/Right split. Francis hasn't really said or done anything so radical as to change that doctrine, he's just reemphasized parts of it that his predecessors hadn't been so vocal about.
So, yeah, he's much more welcoming and less judgmental of gays, but still a strict opponent of marriage equality. He certainly isn't changing Church doctrine on abortion (or, s far, birth control), but he's talking about climate change, argued against capitalistic excess, and has just recognized a Palestinian state. He's big into personal charity, but won't even discuss women in the clergy. And, like every Pope, he's highly critical of both doctor-assisted suicide and the death penalty.
Net-net, he's probably offended more in the US Right than the US Left, but the Church has never been in solid with the Right (or the Left). It's its own creature, for better or worse. Francis is a much more pleasant, and provocative, face for the Catholic Church, and his personal style is much more laudable, but he's not a radical. Any changes to the Church under his watch will be incremental, not revolutionary, the slow turning, at best, of a large ship. And they won't be in any direction that either the liberals or conservatives in the US will be comfortable with.
I respect that. I may (and do) disagree in some of the particulars. But I would expect a religious leader to not be in bed with any particular political party, let alone an American one. That Francis, and the Church, are not conforming to what people would like to see doesn't necessarily mean they are right, but it points to a certain ideological integrity that I can appreciate.
Allen West Rants At Pope Francis Over Palestinian Recognition
The right-wing reaction to the Pope’s decision to recognize Palestine is as insane as you might expect.
I think he's offending more on the Right than the Left because.. well, speaking for myself, I don't expect the Pope to be on "my side". So for the issues where he's not, there's a kind of automatic mental shrug and it goes right over to, "Well, yeah, it's the Pope; not exactly where you go for forward thinking anyway." And on the issues where he is, I think, "Wow, that's awesome!"
It's probably all to do with confirmation bias, but I haven't really analyzed it.
+Kingsley Lintz No, I think you're right. For most folk on the "Left," the expectation is that he's going to be a reactionary, and in those areas where he is (marriage equality, women's rights, birth control, abortion) it's business as usual, but where he's unexpectedly not (gays short of marriage, climate change) he's seen as a thrilling breath of fresh air. (And in areas like economic justice and the death penalty, the Church has been "progressive" for quite some time; they just get ignored by the Right and the Left.)
This is the issue with the pretense that Christianity is some monolithic thing instead of a hugely and dramatically varied global institution. Evangelical Christians in America may have fully subsumed their religion into their politics, but they tend to forget that most of the rest of the world doesn't do that.
+Brittany Constable Yes. Or that the politics of the rest of the world doesn't necessarily match ours.
And many of those are the people who feel that the US is exceptional, a unique nation. Then turn around and assume that everyone else somehow thinks the way we do.