More than one year into his papacy, Pope Francis remains popular among the American public.
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He said Francis was a new and different pope who had already raised big issues such as homosexuality and divorce and remarriage.
Many hooked up glowing traits to Francis.
“We still haven’t had that kind of leadership, not even from (Pope) Francis”, he said, explaining that bishops followed the Vatican’s line by remaining silent on the issues.
The majority share his top priorities – on concern for the poor, the environment and the economy. However the flock veers from the shepherd on doctrine, notably on sexuality and marriage.
Almost 2 in 3 (64 percent) of former Catholics hold a positive view of the pope and 59 percent say he understands U.S. Catholics well, but only 35 percent say the same for the American bishops.
Consider the confusion over same-sex marriage. This directly contradicts the Catholic Church’s official opposition to marriage equality, yet most Catholics (53 percent) do not believe same-sex marriage violates their religious beliefs. It was carried out in English and Spanish August. 5-11. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Two-thirds of Catholics think Pope Francis will bring people back to the faith, but just 51 percent of former Catholics agree.
When it comes to the Catholic Church as an institution, Catholics are still very supportive (89 percent).
They’re down on their bishops, too.
Neither are Catholics uniformly on board with Francis’ many calls for social and economic justice. By contrast, a majority (53%) of Republican Catholics say the Church should place more emphasis on abortion issues than on social justice issues.
The petition, addressed directly to Francis, notes that Catholics see “widespread confusion arising from the possibility that a breach has opened within the Church that would accept adultery – by permitting divorced and then civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion -and would virtually accept even homosexual unions when such practices are categorically condemned as being contrary to Divine and natural law”.
Reactions to the pope also reflect the complexity of the church in the United States today.
Catholics total about one in every five American adults, the survey said.
The disparity between the Catholics and the rest of the United States – not to mention Church leadership – is especially evident on LGBT issues. Two-thirds (67%) of Americans have a favorable view of the pope, while 15% say they have an unfavorable view. That aligns with their bitter view of the institutional church: exclusively 43% maintain a constructive view.
He said that would have sent out a message to the whole church, but instead there was “silence” from the pope.
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Jones speculates that the pontiff “may change former Catholics’ views of the institutional church if it begins to feel and appear extra like Pope Francis’ persona”.
