NEW YORK — As sex abuse scandals continue to buffet the Roman Catholic Church, Catholics in the U.S. are steadily losing confidence in Pope Francis’ handling of the crisis, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. In July, Pope Francis removed U.S. church leader Theodore McCarrick as a cardinal after church investigators said an allegation that he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible. For the survey, Pew conducted telephone interviews with 1,754 American adults, including 336 Catholics, from Sept. 18-24. But 62 per cent said he was doing an “only fair” or “poor” job handling the sex abuse scandals, including 36 per cent who said his efforts have been poor. In the new survey, Francis’ favourability rating is on par with the typical ratings for Benedict.

Source: National Post October 02, 2018 22:18 UTC