UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
Caroline Wyatt
Religious affairs correspondent
Rarely has a pope been more popular with the people.
A survey of Pope Francis’s standing around the globe shows that he is seen positively by well over half the world. Some 54% say their opinion of him is favourable and just 12% see him unfavourably.
That means that his overall rating in the WIN Gallup International poll, or net score, this Easter is 41% (with rounding taken into account) – higher than any secular world leader. …
Honeymoon over
Within the Curia, the Pope has polarised opinion, much as he has done between more conservative and liberal Catholics, even though he has not changed Catholic teaching and remains a staunch and vocal opponent of abortion, recently terming it a crime and “an absolute evil”.
While his focus on mercy and interpreting the gospel with compassion have been welcomed by many, not all of Pope Francis’s reforms are proving so popular and some are encountering stiff internal resistance. Any honeymoon period within the Curia for this pope is long since over. …
Outside the Curia, some – especially those on the more liberal side of the Church – say that more substantial and concrete progress will be needed in Francis’s fourth year in office on the main challenges facing this papacy if there is truly to be a “Francis Revolution”.
They cite the four most pressing issues as:
* reforming the Curia
* dealing with the long and shameful history of cover-up of child abuse within the Church
trying to ensure financial rigour at the Vatican
* shaping the Church’s approach towards homosexuality in a way that alienates neither the growing Church in the developing world, nor the faithful in much of the developed world where same sex marriage is legal and increasingly unremarkable
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