Most U.S. Catholics view Pope Francis favorably

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that 75% of U.S. Catholics view Pope Francis favorably, down 8 percentage points since we last asked this question in 2021 and 15 points below his peak favorability rating, which was 90% in early 2015.

The partisan gap in views of Pope Francis is now as large as it’s ever been in our surveys. Roughly nine-in-ten Catholics who are Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party hold a positive view of him, compared with 63% of Catholics who are Republicans or lean Republican.

Since becoming pope in 2013, Francis often has received favorable ratings from 80% or more of U.S. Catholics. He generally has been viewed more positively than his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, but less positively than Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

A related blog post updates our 9 facts about U.S. Catholics.