Pope John Paul II was extremely charismatic at all age levels, but apparently this did not lead to American Catholics practising his dicta regarding birth control any differently than Americans in general.

It seems that the Western world, Catholic included, practices birth control if only for protection against disease, but probably also as population check. The new area of Catholic population growth seems to be in Africa and Asia, and population pressure would probably be the same regardless of what the Roman Catholic Church preached.

Possibly the Pope has only his charisma anymore to ENFORCE his wishes, so it is possible for him to be praised, loved, and to an extent, ignored.