What is wrong with Ratzinger?
Ratzinger is too rigid and we have always jokingly referred to him as the Pope'e hitman.
I don't think he knows how to smile.
I just read "The Salt of the Earth" a biographical book about Ratzinger. His clear thinking on matters of faith and morals along with his great humility struck me throughout the book. I regard him as warm and genuine person, undeserving of the Inquisitor or ultraconservative label.
Since the Catholic Church has consistently taught that "revelation ended with the death of the last apostle" and "we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ." there ARE NO conservatives or liberals in the church
JPII transcended "conservative" or "liberal" labels. He simply articulated the truth about faith and morals as Christ's representative on earth.
The proper term for theologians like Hans Kung or Roger Mahony or Teilhard de Chardin is not "liberal" but rather "heretic" or "apostate"