"And, at the same time, he obviously has this focus on the 'accompaniment of sinners' and on 'mercy'."  

Yes, and Francis is not shy about the importance of the clerical caste in the project of accompanying sinners and dispensing God's mercy.  Francis will not advance any plan that undercuts the sacramental priesthood or the authority of bishops.  He is perfectly fine with admonishing priests to be less ostentatious and more pastoral, but that too is window dressing when it comes to really demanding accountability from the male celibate priesthood.  The solutions all involve reducing the outsized role of the cultic priesthood and that is just not going to happen under this pope.  It should be blatantly obvious that the reason for the problem can not be it's solution, but in this particular case, the reason for the problem has everything vested in also being the solution.