Maybe the press thought that if they pressed hard enough the Church would cave. That's the campaign for condom use for HIV positive couples is all about. Suddenly, there were all these news reports about cardinals saying that it was okay and that the Pope was working on a document outlining the scenario where condom use would be okay. They even trotted out Martini (the former papabile).
Then boom! The Vatican came out and said, "Nope, not gonna happen."
In the wake of the news reports, it created an illusion that the Church was finally gonna modernize. "Look, the princes of the church are even in disagreement with the Church Teaching." Then when the word was "No" we heard the usual kvetching and the good old "primacy of conscience" argument got trotted out.
Have you heard of Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom? They just held a summit in DC last month. Take a look at this picture:
This thread's focus is homosex marriages, but I've heard the above arguments used for that, too. And for women's ordination...and...(fill in the blank).