Yeah, there is a certain time when learned Catholics believe the pope is infallible. The problem is a lot of Catholics believe the pope is always infallible, due to the system of belief that says the pope represents Christ. So when the pope tells his sheep to throw away their conservative economics beliefs, suddenly you have a much more left-leaning group of people to deal with on top of the traditional atheist liberals you had to deal with in the first place.
If it's "a lot of Catholics," it must mean this serious error is very widespread!
Could you name one?
"... due to the system of belief that says the pope represents Christ."
In some respect, every Christian represents Christ, since we are all members of His Body. The pope, however, represents Him as chief servant, since he has the power of the keys (Isaiah 22:22-23) . This makes him the steward of the royal household, syn: royal vassal, suzereign, seneschal. It puts him in a position of service, for instance, to control the storehouse and dispense the food, as Christ said to Peter: "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep." (John 21:15)
"So when the pope tells his sheep to throw away their conservative economics beliefs,"
First of all, the pope's competence is not in economics, it's in faith and morals. Second, the pope has not told his sheep to throw away their conservative economic beliefs.
This article, which I posted this morning, may help:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3110914/posts
"... suddenly you have a much more left-leaning group of people to deal with on top of the traditional atheist liberals you had to deal with in the first place."
Well, year, that's true. I concede you that much. But the Catholic Left is like an opportunistic infection: it attacks the vulnerable who lack a robust immune system: a sufficiently deep and wide knowledge of "the Mind of the Church." Which does not consist in cut-and-paste proof-texts which, 99.999% of the time, should feature the disclaimer, "I actually did not read this Apostolic Exhortation."