CV NEWS FEED // Seventy-seven percent of American Catholics have a “favorable” view of Pope Francis, according to a recent Gallup poll, but the number of those who have an “unfavorable” view has hit a historical high.
The Gallup poll published on January 11 included statistics of how both non-Catholic American citizens and American Catholics view Pope Francis. The data was collected during December 2023.
Seventy-seven percent of American Catholics have a “favorable view,” 4% have “no opinion,” and 17% have an “unfavorable view” of Pope Francis, according to the latest poll.
Conservative American Catholics “view Francis least favorably,” Gallup added:
While solid majorities of self-described liberal (70%) and moderate (66%) Americans view the pontiff favorably, only 42% of conservatives do.
Liberal and moderate Americans’ current views of Francis are on par with the previous reading, but conservatives’ rating is 13 percentage points lower than in 2019.
“The Vatican’s Dec. 18 announcement that Catholic priests are now allowed to bless same-sex couples is not significantly reflected in the latest poll’s findings,” Gallup reported.
Among non-Catholic American citizens, 58% have a “favorable view” of Francis, making “his unfavorable rating [at] a new high of 30%,” Gallup reported. Eleven percent of non-Catholic Americans said they have “no opinion.”
A graph in the Gallup poll report showed that February of 2014 was when the most American Catholics viewed Francis favorably, at 89%. The graph showed a decline, with some fluctuation since then.
The lowest percentage of American Catholics viewing Francis favorably was 71% during July of 2015, but “three months later, after a visit to the U.S., it rebounded to 87%,” Gallup noted.
Amidst the fluctuating views of Francis, he “remains more popular than Benedict, who was viewed favorably by 40% of Americans and unfavorably by 35% in Gallup’s last reading of him in 2010,” Gallup added:
Benedict’s papacy lasted less than eight years and was tainted by accusations that he mishandled the child sex abuse scandal. Conservatives’ 46% favorable rating of Benedict in 2010 is only slightly higher than Francis’ today. Although Benedict received higher ratings before 2010, his ratings were never as positive as Francis’ highest.
In contrast, Pope John Paul II, who preceded Benedict and served for almost 27 years, was consistently viewed favorably by more than 60% of Americans in the 1990s and 2000s. His highest rating was 86% in 1998.
