WASHINGTON – A new report shows most U.S. Catholics approve of Pope Francis – but his ratings have slipped in the past few years, marked by political divides. The findings were released by the Pew Research Center April 12 from a study that surveyed close to 12,700 respondents, 2,019 of whom self-identified as Catholic.
The data showed that 75% of U.S. Catholics regarded the Pope favorably, compared to 83% in 2021 and 90% in early 2015. The report said that 89% of U.S. Catholics who are Democrat approve of the Pope, while just 7% disapprove of him. In contrast, 63% of U.S. Catholics who are Republican give the Pope a thumbs-up, while 35% view him unfavorably.
“There was a point at which there wasn’t too much of a difference in terms of people’s opinions towards Pope Francis, regardless of … whether or not they were a Democrat or Democrat-leaning Catholics or Republican or Republican-leaning Catholics,” said Pew research associate Patricia Teverington, one of three primary researchers for the report.
“And we still see kind of the overall majority of Catholics see him mostly or very favorably, but there is this kind of increasing divide where about a third of Republican or Republican-leaning Catholics view him mostly or very unfavorably, but only just 7% of Democrat or Democrat-leaning Catholics (do so).”