Sixty percent of Roman Catholics living
in the United States support gay marriage.
According to a
Quinnipiac University poll released Friday, 68 percent of
American Catholics agree with Pope Francis' recent comments on the
church's obsession with moral issues.
Francis said in an interview published
last month in the Jesuit magazine Civilta Cattolica that the church
had “locked itself up in small things” by obsessing over
abortion, contraception and homosexuality.
Eighty-nine percent of respondents also
said that they have a “favorable” or “very favorable” opinion
of their new pope.
“Maybe they were just waiting for a
Jesuit,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac
University Polling Institute, a reference to Francis being the
church's first Jesuit pope. “Overwhelmingly, across the
demographic board, Catholics – men and women, regular or
not-so-regular church-goers, young and old – have a favorable
opinion of Pope Francis.”
American Catholics also support
marriage equality 60-31 percent, a higher percentage than found among
all U.S. adults. Current polls peg support in the low-to-mid 50s.
(Related: Obama
praises Pope Francis' remarks on gays, abortion.)