Americans are feeling quite positive regarding the Roman Catholic Church after Pope Francis' six-day visit to the United States, the latest Pew Research Center survey released on Wednesday revealed.
Citing details from the survey, Reuters reported that 28 percent of US adults surveyed said they have developed a more positive view of the Catholic Church because of Pope Francis. The most favourable shift was among liberals, with 39 percent saying they have a more positive view of the Church, while only 22 percent of conservatives gave a positive comment.
The same survey revealed that conservatives were 10 percent more likely to have a negative view of the Church because of the Pope, compared to liberals at only 4 percent. This is probably because Pope Francis sided with those who have liberal views with regards to caring for immigrants and fighting climate change.
At the same time, Pope Francis stressed the Catholic Church's opposition towards abortion, homosexuality, and gay marriage—the same causes championed by conservatives.
Overall, Pope Francis' favourability rating has gone up four points to 68 percent among US adults compared to 64 percent this June. However, his popularity rating among US Catholics has gone down from 90 percent in February to 81 percent this month.
"The change seems to be more among people who don't offer an opinion," Pew researcher Jessica Martinez noted.
Pope Francis now shares the same rating as Pope Benedict following the latter's visit to the United States back in 2008 among US Catholics.
The Pew Research Center poll was conducted between Oct. 1 and 4 among 1,000 US adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. Among the 1,000 respondents, 218 were Catholics. The margin of error for the survey for Catholics was plus or minus 8.1 percentage points.
