Pope Francis remains to be widely popular in several Latin American countries. But the portion of people that still see him favorably in his native Argentina has plunged by almost 30 percentage points in a decade.
Those are amongst the important thing findings in a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center titled: “How People in Latin America and the U.S. view Pope Francis.” The poll surveyed 6,234 adults last 12 months in six Latin American countries which might be among the many region’s most populous.
The poll found that attitudes toward the pope — in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru —are still broadly positive although overall less positive than they were a decade ago.
The biggest drop in favorable attitudes was recorded within the pope’s Argentina.
A decade ago, 91% of Argentines said that that they had a positive opinion of Francis. That number has dropped to an estimated 64% today.
When then-Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis, much of his home country celebrated it like a World Cup soccer championship. A decade later, the primary Latin American leader of the Catholic Church generates divided opinions and far less fervor.
Francis clashed with a few of Argentina’s top leaders when he oversaw the Argentine church and has not returned since he left Argentina in February 2013 to attend the conclave that elected him because the successor to Benedict XVI on March 13.
Analysts and Vatican insiders have said that the pope is attempting to avoid being drawn into the political polarization that has divided Argentines over many years.
But the pope said earlier this 12 months that he’ll visit his native Argentina within the latter a part of 2024. It can be the primary time in his nearly 11-year-old papacy and while his fellow Argentines are suffering economically from a rising poverty rate and one in all the world’s highest inflation rates.
The poll also found that:
-In Brazil and Mexico, 68% of adults have a good opinion of the pope.
-In Colombia 72% share this opinion in comparison with 83% of adults in late 2013.
-In Chile only about half of adults there have a positive view of Francis.
The favorable impression of Francis amongst U.S. adults reached high points between 2015 and 2017 when seven-in-ten Americans viewed him positively. Today, 57% of U.S. adults have a good opinion of the pope.
The poll found that U.S., Catholics (75%) are more likely than Protestants (51%) or the religiously unaffiliated (56%) to have positive views of Francis today.
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