How do American Catholics view Pope Francis and the Catholic Church?

As Pope Francis plans his first visit to the United States since becoming Pope, most American Catholics give him high marks for his leadership. Eight in 10 American Catholics approve of the direction Pope Francis is leading the Church, including more than half (53 percent) who say they approve strongly. […] Read more »

The People’s Pope: American Catholics Align With Pope Francis

While it is too soon to say whether Pope Francis’ speech will be well received by Congress, a new online survey shows that American Catholics are likely to agree with his less-than-traditional message. “The Shriver Report Snapshot: Insight Into the Conscience of the Complex Catholic” found that 86 percent of […] Read more »

U.S. Catholics Open to Non-Traditional Families

When Pope Francis arrives in the U.S. for the World Meeting of Families later this month, he will find a Catholic public that is remarkably accepting of a variety of non-traditional families, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that provides an in-depth look at American Catholics’ views on […] Read more »

The Republican Conception of Conception

The battle for the Republican presidential nomination has produced an unexpectedly intense burst of attacks on women’s reproductive rights, not only on the right to abortion, but also by implication on some of the most commonly used methods of contraception. The shift to an aggressively conservative posture stands in direct […] Read more »

Marco Rubio Makes a Move Out of the Past

… With opinion divided over President Obama’s impact on both the nation’s economy and its security, the Democrats’ most potent weapon in the 2016 election remains the sense that they are more connected than the GOP to the nation’s evolving cultural and demographic dynamics. As last week’s GOP first- and […] Read more »