WASHINGTON (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI never inspired the deep love and admiration enjoyed by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, but Americans – and American Catholics even more so – still look favorably upon the soon-to-be-former head of the Roman Catholic Church.
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that retiring Pope Benedict XVI gets favorable marks from Americans in general and Catholics in particular, but not nearly as high as those earned by his predecessor, John Paul II. RNS file photos
This image available for Web publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.
A newly-released Washington Post-ABC News poll also shows that nearly two in three Americans (64 percent) strongly approve of the pope’s unexpected decision earlier this month to retire because of his failing health.
More than half (54 percent) of Americans and three-quarters of Catholic Americans look favorably upon Benedict, who will retire on Feb. 28. Before he died in 2005, John Paul’s positive ratings were higher: 67 percent among all Americans, and 87 percent of American Catholics.
John Paul was also more popular than his church, but the current pope is not: 62 percent of Americans look favorably upon the church today, according to the poll.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, in its new poll of American Catholics, also found that John Paul’s favorability ratings eclipsed Benedict’s.
Among other findings, a solid majority of U.S. Catholics (58 percent) told Pew researchers that they hope the next pope will permit priests to marry, and 46 percent hoped the new pope would take the church in “new directions.” A slim majority (51 percent) want him to “maintain traditional positions.”
The Post-ABC poll of 1,006 adults, conducted Feb. 13-17, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The Pew poll of 1,504 adults, conducted between Feb. 13 and 18, had a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
4 Comments
gilhcan
The only reason John Paul II outdid Benedict or any other pope in numbers regarding fame or anything else was because Vatican and hierarchical secrecy, especially about the sexual abuse of kids, was not yet fully exposed to show clear extent of how such matters are always managed from the Vatican. The Vatican still remains mostly mute about it. Yes, the bishops practiced cover-up, but no bishop acts in such matters without the full knowledge, direction, and approval of the papacy in the Vatican. Those who do, soon find themselves out of a job.
gilhcan
PS: Remember also, John Paul II had great interest and a bit of experience in acting. He had a talent and obvious interest in “managing” crowds. Besides participating in the international sex abuse scandal, he sadly did not recognize when it was time to leave the stage.
redware
And yet John Paul did absolutely nothing to stop the abuse of children by priests! Sainthood? Shame!
gilhcan
Such a “popularity contest” makes very little, not just light, of the papacy. Of course, that’s the unavoidable result of trying to maintain a monarchy, especially a religious monarchy, in this time. The church dresses for it. Their obeisance and rituals are remnants of such an antiquity. Oh, and don’t leave out the secrecy, the celibacy, all such unmaintainable oddities that go with attempting to live in today’s world, in any meaningful way, with such ancient oddities.