Francis remains popular in US, but not with conservatives

Five years after Francis ascended to the papacy, a new survey of U.S. Catholics reports that most still harbor warm feelings toward the pontiff — but his popularity is waning among political conservatives.

According to a new study from the Pew Research Center, the first Latin American pope retains a soaring 84 percent favorability rating among Catholics overall, with only a 1-point drop since 2014. A majority (58 percent) also still believe he represents a major positive change for the Roman Catholic Church.

But there are signs that Francis’ honeymoon has ended in some circles. Roughly a quarter (24 percent) of American Catholics say he is naive, up from 15 percent in 2015, and 34 percent now say the pontiff is too liberal, compared with 19 percent who said the same three years ago.

The divisions appear to be more political than theological. According to the survey, the share of Republican and Republican-leaning Catholics who say Francis is too liberal has more than doubled since 2015, jumping from 23 percent to 55 percent. Similarly, while only 16 percent of Republican Catholics surveyed in 2015 said Francis is naive, roughly a third say so today.

By contrast, the report shows that when it comes to Democratic or Democraticleaning Catholics, “there has been no statistically significant change in opinion on either of these questions.”

“Catholics who are Republican and Republican-leaning have become more negative to Pope Francis,” said Greg Smith, associate director of research at Pew. “I think this survey shows very clear evidence that Catholic attitudes about Pope Francis have become very polarized along partisan lines.”

The change follows several years of Francis invoking traditional Catholic social teaching to stake out positions widely seen as politically liberal. Since becoming the bishop of Rome, the pontiff has published an apostolic exhortation deeply critical of unfettered capitalism, repeatedly offered vocal support for immigrants and produced an encyclical calling for action on climate change.

These moves have frustrated many Catholic Republican politicians in the United States.

House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, former Sen. Rick Santorum and former presidential adviser Steve Bannon have all challenged or spoken critically of the pope’s views on things such as economics, refugees and the environment.

President Trump himself, a For a list of religious events in central Ohio, visit Gatherings at

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