UNITED STATES
New Tang Dynasty Television
WASHINGTON, March 06, 2014 (AFP) –
A year after being chosen Pope Francis is very popular with American Catholics though his handling of the pedophile priests’ scandal left many underwhelmed, a new study found.
More than eight in 10 surveyed in the Pew Research Center study of 1,821 adults 18 or older — fully 85 percent — had a favorable opinion of the pope a year after his elevation, it found.
Francis, born in Argentina, is the first pope born in the Americas, and the first from Latin America.
While a strong majority approves of Francis’ work on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised, the new pope earned lower marks for his handling of the sex abuse crisis, the study found.
“Fifty-four percent of Catholics giving him an excellent or good rating for his handling of the issue. One year ago, 70% of US Catholics said that addressing the sex abuse scandal should be ‘a top priority’ for the new pope, far more than said the same about standing up for traditional moral values, spreading the Catholic faith or other issues,” the study stressed.
Francis has defended the Catholic Church’s record on tackling the sexual abuse of children by priests, saying “no one else has done more” to root out pedophilia.
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