U.S. Catholics strongly favor liberalization of church policies
Pope Francis remains popular among members, especially Democrats
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A strong majority of U.S. Catholics would welcome liberalizing changes in their church, including the ordination of women as priests, a new survey by the Pew Research Center shows.
Nearly two-thirds, 64 percent, say women should be allowed to become priests, and a somewhat larger number, 69 percent, say priests should be allowed to marry.
The numbers come from a Pew survey conducted from Feb. 13-25 of 2,019 Catholic adults. The survey was part of a larger study of 12,693 adults of all faiths.
Among the other changes supported by a majority of Catholics:
An overwhelming number, 83 percent, said Catholics should be allowed to use birth control. Only 15 percent said the church shouldn’t make such a change.
Three-fourths, 75 percent, said unmarried Catholics who are living with a romantic partner should be allowed to take Communion.
A slight majority, 54 percent, said the church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples.
Notably, Catholics who attend Mass weekly are much more likely to support such liberal changes than those who attend less frequently or not at all. Even so, a majority of the frequent attenders support some of them: About 62 percent of frequent attenders would like to see the church allow birth control, and 57 percent would approve of the church allowing cohabitating unmarried members take Communion. A bit more than half, 53 percent, think priests should be allowed to get married.
Frequent attenders, however, mostly disapprove (56 percent) of the idea of women becoming priests, and two-thirds (65 percent) don’t think the church should recognize gay or lesbian marriages.
Similarly, Catholics who identify as Democrats are more likely to favor liberalization than are Republican Catholics.
On some issues, there is a gender divide: Women are significantly more likely to support recognition of same-sex marriage (60 percent) than are men (47 percent). Women also are more likely to favor permission to use birth control (86 percent for women, 79 percent for men). Gender differences on the other issues are small.
On most issues, younger Catholics (those ages 18 to 49) are somewhat more conservative than their older peers. But the younger Catholics are slightly more likely to support same-sex marriage recognition (56 percent) than are older Catholics (53 percent).
According to a Pew analysis, the proportion of Catholics who say the church should allow priests to get married, allow women to become priests and recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples are in the same ballpark as they were a decade ago. But today’s Catholics have become much more accepting of the idea of allowing cohabitating couples to receive Communion.
Partisan divide in views about Pope Francis
The survey found that Catholics have a strong favorable impression of Pope Francis — but his popularity has dipped in recent years and become more polarized along partisan lines.
Three-fourths of U.S. Catholics, 75 percent, view Francis favorably. That’s down 8 percentage points from 2021 and 15 points from his peak favorability rating of 90 percent in 2015.
Francis’s favorability rating is still extremely high among Catholics who are or lean Democratic: 89 percent. His favorability rating among Republicans or those leaning Republican is still high, 63 percent, but significantly lower than for Democrats.
Favorability ratings for Francis differed little when divided by age, gender and ethnicity. Frequent attenders (at least weekly) were least likely to view him favorably (71 percent), and those attending monthly or annually most likely (79 percent). Those never or seldom attending were in the middle with a 74 percent favorable view.