Pope Francis remains wildly popular in Latin America, according to a new survey, but saw a decrease in favorability in Argentina.
Pew Research Center released a comprehensive study, titled, “”How People in Latin America and the U.S. view Pope Francis.” The poll surveyed 6,234 adults last year in six of Latin American’s most populous countries.
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.
In Brazil and Mexico, for instance, 68% of adults have a favorable opinion of the pope.
A child kisses Pope Francis during the weekly general audience, in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, August 21, 2024. (Reuters/Yara Nardi )
The favorability for the pope in Argentina had the biggest drop among the six surveyed countries.
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A decade ago, 91% of Argentinians said that they had a positive opinion of Francis. That number has dropped to an estimated 64% today.
Pope Francis attends a mass at the Esplanade of Tasitolu in Dili, East Timor, on September 10, 2024. ( (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP) (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images))
The poll also found:
-In Brazil and Mexico, 68% of adults have a favorable opinion of the pope.
-In Colombia, 72% share this opinion compared to 83% of adults in late 2013.
-In Chile, only about half of adults there have a positive view of Francis.
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The favorable impression of Francis among 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 favorable 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.