Agreed!  It should also be noted that at least some of the popes, have had theologians who [for want of a better word] 'checked over' their encyclicals for correct doctrinal/theological/scriptural content.  One of the best known instances of this was that John Paul II had Joseph Ratzinger [future Benedict XVI] as his main theologian.  I personally had problems with a good bit of  Ratzinger's positions.  But Joseph Ratzinger certainly was a top-notch theologian---no question about it. 
Pope Francis has Cardinal Walter Kasper---who is a superb theologian as well.  The apparent 'clash' between the papacies of JP II and Benedict and the papacy of Francis is that their theologians were trained in vastly different theological schools.  Kasper came from Tubingen, where the founder of Catholic Tubingen was Johann Sebastian Drey.  Drey saw theological knowledge as acting through the living community, which keeps theology from dissolving into an airy, unsubstantiated speculation.