Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Connections to Catholicism run broad and deep in American society. One-in-five U.S. adults identify Catholicism as their religion. In addition, about one-in-ten are cultural Catholics – people who have a religion other than Catholicism, or no religion, but nevertheless think of themselves as Catholic or partially Catholic in other ways. A similar share of U.S. […]
Note: All terms are defined as they relate to Catholicism and the Catholic Church. Annulment A ruling by an ecclesiastical tribunal that a marriage once thought to be valid by the Catholic Church fell short of at least one of the essential elements required for marriage, and therefore was never valid. Communion The act through […]
Half of Americans say the next president should be careful not to criticize Islam as a whole when speaking about Islamic extremists, while four-in-ten want the next president to speak bluntly about Islamic extremists even if the statements are critical of Islam as a whole.
About four-in-ten U.S. Catholics say they attend Mass weekly. Few cultural Catholics (4%) say the same, but nearly half report attending Mass at least occasionally. Meanwhile, a strong majority of ex-Catholics (82%) say they never attend Mass at a Catholic church. A similar pattern is seen on some other measures of observance of Catholic rituals, […]