Pope Francis' approval rating among U.S. Catholics has dropped, with a large partisan divide emerging. While Democrats largely approve of the pope, Republicans' unfavorable view has increased.
Pope Francis waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, April 10, 2024.
Pew said a “large partisan divide” now exists in U.S. Catholics’ views about the pope. While 89% of Catholics who say they’re Democrats or “lean Democratic” approve ofJust 7% of Democratic-aligned Catholics hold an unfavorable view of the pope, down 8 points from 2018, Pew said. By contrast, Republican-affiliated Catholic unfavorables climbed from 28% seven years ago to 35% this year.The survey also revealed a disconnect between many U.S. Catholics and the church’s teachings.
Permitting priests to marry was favored by 69% of American Catholics, Pew said, while 64% supported allowing women to serve as priests. A majority of those surveyed, 54%, said the church should “recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples.” Those numbers were boosted by Catholics who were largely Democrats or lean Democratic , with 56% of those in favor of progressive changes saying they seldom or never attend Mass, Pew said.that condemns sex-change surgery and surrogate parenting. But the poll came after a December pronouncement allowing priests to bless same-sex and cohabiting couples, a move that provokedNeither leader, at his apex, hit the 91% to 93% rankings given Pope John Paul II, who is now canonized as a saint.
Pew said it received survey responses from its American Trends Panel of 12,693 U.S. adults, including 2,019 Catholics who formed the basis for the Friday survey. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.
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