Bergoglio’s First Time in the United States
By Sandro Magister
Landing in Washington after visiting Cuba, Pope Francis is setting foot in a country that was born Protestant but in which almost half the population today has a connection with Catholicism. In fact, to the 20 percent of citizens of the United States who profess themselves to be full-fledged Catholics must be added 9 percent who call themselves Catholic by cultural affinity, another 9 percent who were raised in a Catholic environment but then left it, and 8 percent who have close relatives who are Catholic and go to Mass with them. The result is that Catholicism overall has a grip on 45 percent of the citizens of the United States, and on fully 84 percent of “Latinos,” who are the fastest-growing segment of the population and will see Pope Francis canonize one of “their” saints, Junipero Serra, in a ceremony celebrated almost entirely in Spanish. The Washington-based Pew Research Center has come out with a brand-new analysis of Catholicism in the United States, published on the brink of the pope’s arrival, that allows an in-depth exploration of some features of the “people of God” in this country: > U.S Catholics Open to Non-Traditional Families As can already be guessed from the title of the survey, American Catholics are also highly influenced by the dominant political-cultural trends in the West on questions concerning the family and the sexual sphere. Which are precisely the questions that originated this journey of Francis to the United States, primarily motivated by his desire to participate in the world meeting of families in Philadelphia, in the run-up to a synod also dedicated to the family. If it is in fact true that 90 percent of Catholics in the United States see the family with a married father and mother as the ideal environment for raising children, there is also a large percentage who at the same time see it as acceptable that children grow up with parents who are single (87 percent), or divorced (83 percent), or just cohabiting (83 percent), or of the same sex (66 percent). And if one asks if the Church should recognize homosexual marriages, 46 percent of American Catholics respond yes, against an equal proportion of nos. But there is a distinct majority (62 percent) of those who would like the Church to allow communion for the cohabiting and for those who have remarried civilly while the spouse married in church is still alive. Among those who go to Mass every Sunday (one fourth of the total) and those who go more infrequently there are notable differences. The former are more faithful to the magisterium of the Church. But even among them those against communion for the divorced and remarried do not amount to half, topping out at 42 percent. These attitudes are influenced by personal experience. One fourth of American Catholic adults have had a divorce, and one out of nine have remarried civilly. One out of ten cohabit without being married, and almost half have cohabited for a certain period of their lives. Among the divorced, one fourth have requested and obtained a declaration of nullity for their sacramental marriage. Broadening the view to the Church’s great fields of action in the world, almost two thirds of Catholics in the United States (62 percent) say it is “essential” for Catholics “to work to help the poor and needy,” while only 29 percent see it as essential “to work to address climate change.” More than half of Catholics receive communion every time or almost every time they go to Mass. But this is more true of the white population, while the “Latinos” receive communion less often. But there are no differences of ethnicity, age, or education when it comes to the practice of sacramental confession. Here the only difference is among those who go to Mass regularly and those who do not. 68 percent of the former go to confession at least once a year, while only 27 percent of the less assiduous do so. In any case, in a country characterized by strong competition among religious faiths like the United States, the Church membership of many Catholics is by no means guaranteed to last. Four out of ten Catholics under the age of 30 see it as possible that they might leave the Church in the future. These are the Catholics to whom Pope Francis will speak on his stops in the United States, naturally without overlooking the fact that his audience radius is 360 degrees. Among American Catholics, his popularity today does not equal the extremely high level of John Paul II in the early 1990’s, and barely surpasses the peak reached by Benedict XVI in 2008 immediately after his visit to the United States. But it is sizable nonetheless, with 86 percent favorable or highly favorable: > Trends in Papal Favorability Among U.S. Catholics And it is probable that this journey will see it grow even more. _____________ The program and complete speeches of the journey: > Apostolic Journey to Cuba and the United States, 19-28 september 2015 About Cuba: > Francesco e il lupo. Ma gli agnelli? (23.9.2015) > "Cuba si apra a Cuba". Il sogno del cubano medio (22.9.2015) > United States and Cuba, the Devil and Holy Water (11.9.2015) __________ English translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A. __________ The latest three articles from www.chiesa: 17.9.2015 > Vatican Diary / Presences, absences, surprises of the upcoming synod Who’s in and who’s out among the synod fathers personally selected by Pope Francis. Among the excluded is Cardinal Antonelli. Belgium and Greece strangely overrepresented. The new work schedule, this time without a midpoint wrap-up 15.9.2015 > Forbidden To Call It Divorce. But It Sure Looks Like It The reform of marital procedures backed by Pope Francis will multiply decrees of nullity from a few thousands to many millions. Obtainable very easily even in just 45 days. The synod on the family will open in October to a landscape already changed 11.9.2015 > United States and Cuba, the Devil and Holy Water They are the two destinations of the next journey of Pope Francis, at the opposite poles of his geopolitical vision. The enigma of the pope’s silence on the absence of freedom in the regime of Fidel and Raul Castro __________ For more news and commentary, see the blog that Sandro Magister maintains, available only in Italian: > SETTIMO CIELO The last three posts: Francesco e il lupo. Ma gli agnelli? "Cuba si apra a Cuba". Il sogno del cubano medio Quando il papa fa politica. Il suo primo giorno a Cuba
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