Paul Vi was the most liberal pope we have ever had. And if you think that John Paul II was loved by liberals, you surely don’t remember the 1979 confrontation between him and the leader of the LCWR, nor his efforts to get the Jebbies under control, no rejection of liberation theology Without him, there would be no Ratzinger, no catechism. Politically, all the recent popes have been more liberal than an old fashioned Democrat like Sam Rayburn or Lyndon Johnson, except with respect to Marxism. Theologically, all incuding Pope Paul, have been conservative.
I think Paul VI’s stance against artificial contraception was the defining moment of his papacy, and had no parallel under JP II. While JP II did give us Cardinal Ratzinger, in the US Church the Cardinal was the scapegoat for the continued conservatism of the Church; JP II was slow to enforce orthodoxy in the US bishops and it was left to Ratzinger to do so.