Does Pope Francis' public image match his policies?

This week's op-ed tackles Pope Francis' public image. Is it accurate, or is it a bunch of PR spin?

Anna March recently wrote about it for The Weeklings: 

While the pope transmits a populist vibe--particularly about the economy-- he is an old-school conservative who, despite his great PR, maintains nearly all of the social policies of his predecessors and keeps up a hardline Vatican "cabinet." He has done virtually nothing to change the policies of the church to match his more compassionate rhetoric.  People excuse the pope, claiming that he doesn't have much power to make changes, but this simply isn't true.