Today, as Benedict marks his first anniversary as pope, the liberals are still unhappy. But so are some conservative activists.

''Among those who greatly admired Cardinal Ratzinger and were elated by his election as pope, there is a palpable uneasiness,'' the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, an influential conservative, wrote recently in the journal he edits, First Things.

Based on Ratzinger's 23-year record as a vociferous defender of orthodoxy as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Catholics on both sides of the debates over celibacy, homosexuality and the role of the laity expected him to lead a forced march toward ideological purity.

There has been a taste of that, most notably in Benedict's approval of a document saying men with ''deep-seated homosexual tendencies'' should not be ordained as priests. But, on the whole, the first year of his papacy has been surprisingly mild.

''He has not turned out to be the pope that many progressives feared and many conservatives cheered,'' said Christopher Bellitto, a church historian at Kean University in New Jersey.

For example:

l His first encyclical - often considered a guide to the direction a pope intends to take - was a gentle reflection on ''God is Love.''

l Benedict has merged a few offices, but he has not undertaken a housecleaning of the Vatican bureaucracy, which is probably the fastest way for a pope to reshape the church.

l To the puzzlement of conservatives, Benedict chose the pragmatic archbishop of San Francisco, William Levada, as his successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Then, he named Bishop George Niederauer of Salt Lake City to succeed Levada in California, drawing howls from conservatives who believe Niederauer is too ''gay friendly,'' in Neuhaus's words.

''It's not just a question of what [Benedict] has done. It's a question of expectations, and here we are a year in and what he hasn't done,'' said Philip Lawler, editor of Catholic World News, a conservative news service. ''When he was elected, there was an expectation from Catholics on all sides that he would be more of an activist, and that hasn't happened.''

Those expectations mounted last week as rumors circulated that the pope would allow priests to celebrate more frequently the Tridentine Mass, the centuries-old Latin liturgy that was replaced by Pope Paul VI during the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65.

Breaking with a tradition established by his predecessor, John Paul II, Benedict did not issue an open letter to priests on the Thursday before Easter. That prompted speculation in conservative circles that he would instead issue a ''universal indult,'' or general permission, for the Tridentine Mass.

But Holy Thursday came, and went, with no decree.

''This was one of the things that was expected of Pope Benedict from Day One, and that would be completely in keeping with his writings before he became pope, and why it hasn't happened yet nobody knows,'' Lawler said.

The reason for Benedict's unexpected mildness, in the view of some scholars and clerics, is that the job changes the man. A stern enforcer of church doctrine in his previous role, Benedict is now shepherd to the world's 1.1 billion Catholics and, therefore, primarily a pastor.

''I'm sure he has surprised some of the very conservative people, but that's because they didn't really know him. They just saw one side of him, which was his responsibility as guardian of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,'' said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington.

''I think this Holy Father is a man in the center, and we're seeing that now,'' the cardinal said.