| As part of its ongoing polling project to track American Catholics’
views on important issues, the latest findings from the Le Moyne
College/Zogby International Contemporary Catholic Trends (CCT) have
been released. The poll was conducted on April 6 and 7.
Next Pope’s Liberalism/Conservatism and Position on Issues
When asked whether the next pope should be more liberal, more
conservative, or about the same as Pope John Paul II, a majority
of American Catholics responded “about the same” (65%).
However, nearly one-third (31%) believed that the next pope should
be more liberal while only 3% answered more conservative. When asked
about whether the next pope should continue some of Pope John Paul
II’s specific positions, agreement varied by issue. Respondents
were most in agreement with the continuation of criticism of the
excesses of consumer society (78% agreed with 45% strongly agreeing),
of criticism of the inequalities of global capitalism (80% agreed
with 49% strongly agreeing), and of opposition to abortion (79%
agreed with 64% strongly agreeing). However, American Catholics
were split over the continued opposition to birth control, the upholding
of the all-male priesthood, and the upholding of mandatory celibacy
for the priesthood. This split is illustrated the following table:
| |
Opposition to birth control |
Uphold all-male priesthood |
Uphold mandatory celibacy for priesthood |
| TOTAL AGREE |
45.8% |
47.0% |
47.9% |
| Strongly agree |
25.4% |
30.7% |
28.8% |
| Somewhat agree |
20.4% |
16.3% |
19.1% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE |
52.1% |
50.2% |
49.4% |
| Somewhat disagree |
23.8% |
25.6% |
21.0% |
| Strongly disagree |
28.3% |
24.6% |
28.4% |
Regional Origin of Next Pope
When asked whether it would be good for the Church if the next
pope came from particular regions, respondents had the highest agreement
for a pope from Latin America (55%) or Africa (48%) and the lowest
agreement for a pope from Italy (26%). However, levels of agreement
for a pope from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, or Canada/U.S.
were very similar. The following table illustrates levels of agreement
for all potential regional origins:
| |
Italy |
Western Europe |
Eastern Europe |
Africa |
Asia |
Latin America |
Canada/U.S. |
| Strongly Agree |
4.8% |
6.7% |
5.9% |
15.8% |
9.0% |
20.6% |
13.3% |
| Somewhat Agree |
20.9% |
30.4% |
34.4% |
31.9% |
31.7% |
34.2% |
29.7% |
| Total |
25.7% |
37.1% |
40.3% |
47.7% |
40.7% |
54.8% |
43.0% |
Future of the Church
On the future of the Church, 63% of American Catholics say that
the Church should be more democratic in its decision-making. This
group is composed of 25% who strongly agree and 38% who somewhat
agree. Nearly two-thirds (66%) of respondents believe that U.S.
bishops are doing a good job of leading the American Church, though
only slightly more than one-quarter of respondents (27%) strongly
agreed.
Le Moyne College/Zogby International
conducted interviews of 600 Roman Catholics nationwide. All calls
were made from Zogby International headquarters in Utica, N.Y.,
April 6 through April 7. The margin of error is +/- 4.1 percentage
points. Slight weights were added to region, age, race, and gender
to more accurately reflect the Roman Catholic population. Margins
of error are higher in sub-groups.
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