{"id":11523,"date":"2018-03-13T07:01:39","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T12:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/u-s-catholics-offer-wide-range-of-answers-when-asked-about-francis-most-notable-action-as-pope\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:15:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:15:49","slug":"u-s-catholics-offer-wide-range-of-answers-when-asked-about-francis-most-notable-action-as-pope","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2018\/03\/13\/u-s-catholics-offer-wide-range-of-answers-when-asked-about-francis-most-notable-action-as-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Catholics offer wide range of answers when asked about Francis\u2019 most notable action as pope"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"In<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Pope<\/a>
Pope Francis embraces a boy after a weekly audience in Vatican City in 2013. (Franco Origlia\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Most U.S. Catholics continue to have a high opinion of Pope Francis as he marks his fifth year as pontiff, according to a Pew Research Center survey<\/a> conducted in January. And when we asked Catholics to tell us the most significant thing Francis has done so far \u2013 in their own words, regardless of their opinion of the pope \u2013 they offered a variety of responses that cover many facets of religious and public life.<\/p>\n\n

For instance, about one-in-ten U.S. Catholics (9%) said Francis\u2019 most notable action has been showing humility and setting a good Christian example. Individual U.S. Catholics told us Francis \u201cis very humble with the people,\u201d that he\u2019s \u201chumbling himself to teach Christianity,\u201d and that \u201che\u2019s a pope for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

At the same time, an equal share of respondents (9%) credited Francis with opening up the church and making it more accepting. One respondent said, \u201cHe seems to get the idea across that all people are important and worthy of attention and rights.\u201d Another said Francis is \u201cteaching acceptance and diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Still others named more specific actions, such as helping the poor (8%). Respondents called him a \u201cchampion of the poor\u201d and told us that \u201chis mission for social justice and caring for marginalized populations\u201d are the most significant things he\u2019s done as pope.<\/p>\n\n

[s]<\/p>\n\n\n

Relatively smaller shares of Catholics cited other things \u2013 including the pope\u2019s efforts to promote peace (3%), his focus on caring for the environment (2%), and his moves to reform the Vatican (1%) \u2013 as notable actions.<\/p>\n\n

Not all the significant actions mentioned are positive. Of the 4% who noted something negative (or not inherently positive), some said Francis \u201cgets too involved in things that don\u2019t concern the church\u201d or that he is \u201cmore liberal than the popes before him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Another 4% of U.S. Catholics said Francis has not yet done anything significant in his tenure as pope, and 29% declined to answer the question.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About one-in-ten U.S. Catholics say Pope Francis\u2019 most notable action has been showing humility and setting a good Christian example, while an equal share credited Francis with opening up the church and making it more accepting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063634","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[180,179,436,170],"bylines":[972],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-11523","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-catholicism","category-christianity","category-pope-francis","category-religious-leaders-institutions","bylines-elizabeth-podrebarac-sciupac","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short 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