c. 2003 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ American Roman Catholics overwhelmingly view Pope John Paul II as a moral role model and human rights advocate, but half of them think he should resign due to his failing health, a Washington Post/ABC News Poll shows.
The poll also indicates that almost three-quarters of them think the pontiff should have done more to address the problem of sexual abuse of young people by priests.
The survey, based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 9-13, was released on Thursday (Oct. 16), the day the pope marked the 25th anniversary of his election.
On the sex abuse problem, pollsters found that 74 percent of Catholic respondents think the pope should have done more while 22 percent thought he has done enough and 4 percent had no opinion.
More than 85 percent of U.S. Catholics said they would give the pontiff and excellent or good rating on setting a personal moral example, encouraging human rights, preserving church traditions and encouraging democracy across the globe.
Like other polls, this one indicated that there is a disconnect between the pope and U.S. Catholics on the direction of church policy.
Sixty-four percent said they think his successor should change church policies to reflect the lifestyles and attitudes of today’s Catholics. That compared to 33 percent who said the next pope should keep traditional church policies and 3 percent who had no opinion.
About two-thirds of American Catholics said priests should be permitted to marry and women should have the option of ordination, the Post reported.
The poll found strikingly similar sentiments among Catholics and the general public about moral issues. Almost 9 out of 10 say birth control is morally acceptable; two out of three accept premarital sex; six in 10 support the death penalty and half consider homosexuality morally acceptable.
While 30 percent of Catholics say abortion presents no moral problem for them, 39 percent of the general public agree with that view.
The poll involved 1,281 adults across the country, including 504 Catholics. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall results and plus or minus 4 percentage points for the questions addressed solely to Catholics.
_ Adelle M. Banks
