Pope Francis is more popular than any political world leader, even among atheists, according to a new opinion poll.
The poll by WIN/Gallup International revealed Pope Francis is more popular than US President Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
It also revealed that over half of the world's atheists and agnostics viewed the pope favourably.
The poll asked around 1,000 people across 64 countries the question: "Irrespective of your own religion, do you have a very favourable, somewhat favourable, somewhat unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion of Pope Francis?"
Pope Francis – unsurprisingly – was most popular with Roman Catholics, 85 per cent of whom had a favourable opinion of him, and Jews, with 65 per cent. More than half of the protestants questioned also viewed the pope positively.
"Pope Francis is a leader who transcends his own religion," said Jean-Marc Leger, WIN/Gallup International president. "Our study shows that an ample majority of citizens of the world, of different religious affiliations and across regions, have a favourable image of the pope."
Francis is most popular in the Philippines and Portugal, with 94 per cent and 93 per cent holding favourable views, while he was least popular in Tunisia, Turkey and Algeria. Most people in Azerbaijan did not know much about him.
His net popularity was +41, which found him ahead of Obama (+30), Merkel (+13) and Cameron (+10).
