Vatican Mum on Supervisor's Suggestions

The Pope's death has moved mostly to inside pages with the exception of San Mateo County supervisor Mike Nevin's statements--"This pope brought good will over the world in his papacy. But he's pretty conservative for me". Nevin goes on to say that he would like to see a more humanistic approach, specifically regarding celibacy and the ordination of women. Not being a Catholic myself I'll leave it to Nevin to to make those judgments--except to note that it seems Nevin is holding back. Is he saying that the only thing that causes him to back off supporting Pope John II is because this pope maintained the longstanding policy of the Catholic church? For whatever reason Nevin doesn't want to say what those other humanistic values are but it could include this as opposed to this. The article concludes by introducing a thought that I hadn't encountered previously. "Nevin described the pope as the church's spiritual leader, and dismissed any notions of doing away with the the role of pope." I never heard anyone suggest that before.