The Deacon's Bench
Nearly two years after becoming the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis continues to grow more popular among Americans.
Fully nine-in-ten U.S. Catholics now say they have a favorable view of Francis, including nearly six-in-ten who have a “very favorable” view. Francis’ favorability rating among U.S. Catholics is comparable to ratings for Pope John Paul II in the 1980s and ’90s, and has surpassed any favorability rating for Pope Benedict XVI in Pew Research Center surveys.
As they have gotten to know more about him, non-Catholics also have grown more admiring of Pope Francis. Among U.S. adults overall (Catholic and non-Catholic), seven-in-ten see the pope favorably, up 13 points since the days immediately following his election in March 2013. The share of Americans who see Francis unfavorably has remained relatively steady, and is now 15%. Fewer U.S. adults now say they have no opinion or don’t know enough to rate the pope (15%) than said the same in March 2013 (29%).
…Among Catholics, those who attend Mass regularly give Francis a highly positive assessment. Indeed, almost all Catholics who attend Mass weekly give the pope a favorable rating (95%), including two-thirds who express a “very favorable” opinion of Francis.
This nearly unanimous approval of the pontiff is striking even for highly observant Catholics. In five separate readings taken over the course of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy from 2005 to 2013, the highest favorability rating for Pope Francis’ predecessor among regular Mass-attending Catholics was 88%, and it dipped as low as 77%.
The current survey finds that 86% of Catholics who less often attend Mass also give Francis a favorable rating, including half who rate him very favorably.
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