Francis is political. He is very liberal. All popes are politicians. You don't get to be pope without being very good at Vatican politics.
How is that wrong? If the other cardinals like you or owe you something you have a better chance of being the chosen one than if they don't like you. Every walk of life has its politics: office politics for instance.
There is politicking that goes on in the conclave for sure. But ultimately it is inspired by the holy spirit. Even though extreme cajoling goes on. The infallibility of the pope refers only to faith and morals when the pope is speaking "ex cathedra". The Catholic church and its pope is only concerned with the teachings and example of Jesus on issues. (Rendering unto Caesar...). What happens is that political issues either agree or disagree with the Catholic positions on social issues. Popes and bishops do not endorse parties or candidates. Protestants do that all the time though. In America, no party has a monopoly on Christian positions so Catholics have to decide for themselves. We just have to be careful not to put politics above faith. Then it becomes a false idol.
Interesting illustration...the Catholics in Syria, who are descended from those churches St. Paul founded...the earliest Christians, are uneasily allied with Assad because the other guys are the Islamic State who commit genocide against Christians. It ain't easy. They just want to be left alone. Weird.
You gotta remember that the Pope says things in another language that gets interpreted and reported as something a little more than what he is really saying. I wasn't really happy with him at first either until I realized that
