U.S. Catholics Divided on Church’s Discretion Under New Pope
A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center suggests that American Catholics are split evenly over the perception of the papacy’s current state. The poll looks at how opinions differ between Catholics who attend Mass regularly and those who do not, as well as between gender and age. Between all groups, Catholics are divided equally over the question of the direction of the Church: “Half of U.S. Catholics (51%) say the next pope should maintain the traditional teachings of the church, while about the same number say the next pope should move the church in new directions (46%).”