Or fear that it is NOT - hence the immediate reactionary defense at the slightest hint that the RCC might not be right in everything?
No fear of that at all. Papal authority extends to morality, right and wrong, and he is infallible in only that context.
However, Pope Francis I is never preaching anything new, is he? NONE of the popes preached anything new. Sin is VERY old. It's not as if we humans have invented ANY new sin. I think we humans have already committed all the sins there are to commit and we will continue to commit them until our good Lord ends it all for us, personally or totally.
I doubt if I EVER shocked a priest at confession. I might have shocked myself and what I had done but, never the priest.
IMAGINE what they hear.