The release of the new grand jury report documenting sexual abuse committed by more than 300 priests in Pennsylvania over the past seven decades has been another blow to the Roman Catholic Church. …
It’s too early to tell whether this latest report will have an impact on what Americans, or American Catholics, think about the pope, but we do have an update on his image from just before the report’s release. A Gallup survey conducted Aug. 1-12 showed that Pope Francis remains very popular among Catholics, with 78% favorable and 12% unfavorable ratings. …
Despite the challenges the Catholic Church has faced as a result of priest sex-abuse cases in recent decades, the overall percentage of Americans who identify as Catholic has not changed substantially. About 22.5% of American adults are Catholics, based on data from our Gallup tracking between January and June of this year. From a big-picture perspective, that is similar to the percentages in the 1950s and 1960s. CONT.
Frank Newport, Gallup