--- title: "Pope Francis’ big year" description: "Pope Francis began this year as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an Argentine archbishop. He finishes it as Time magazine’s Person of the Year." date: "2013-12-11" authors: - name: "Michael Lipka" job_title: "Associate Director, Research" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/michael-lipka/" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/11/pope-francis-big-year/" categories: - "Pope Francis" --- # Pope Francis’ big year [![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/11/FT_Educ_Differences.png?w=300)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/11/FT_Educ_Differences.png) [![© STEFANO RELLANDINI/Reuters/Corbis](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2013/07/FT_13.07.11_PopeFrancis.jpg)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2013/07/FT_13.07.11_PopeFrancis.jpg) *© STEFANO RELLANDINI/Reuters/Corbis* Pope Francis began this year as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an Argentine archbishop. He finishes it as [Time magazine’s Person of the Year](http://poy.time.com/2013/12/11/person-of-the-year-pope-francis-the-peoples-pope/), beating out contenders such as Edward Snowden after a whirlwind of activity that included news-making comments about [homosexuality](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/world/europe/pope-francis-gay-priests.html?_r=0) and [other social issues](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/09/19/majority-of-u-s-catholics-opinions-run-counter-to-church-on-contraception-homosexuality/), as well as an [apostolic exhortation](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html) that focused on caring for the poor and inveighed against the “idolatry of money.” Polls show Francis to be highly popular, especially among U.S. Catholics. A [Washington Post-ABC poll](http://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/12/11/National-Politics/Polling/release_278.xml), released today, finds that 92% of American Catholics have a favorable impression of him, including 63% who have a “strongly favorable” view. Similarly, 85% of Catholics in the United States say they approve of the direction in which Francis is leading the Catholic Church, including 54% who strongly approve. More broadly, the Post-ABC poll finds that 69% of all U.S. adults (including non-Catholics) have a favorable impression of Francis. And a [Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/12/11/wsj-poll-americans-like-pope-francis/), also released today, shows that 57% of Americans say they have “positive” feelings toward the pope, up from 35% in July. By comparison, just 42% of the poll’s respondents express positive feelings toward Barack Obama. Though Francis now tops the [most-talked about topics](http://www.facebookstories.com/2013/en-en/most-talked-about-global) list on Facebook, not all the comments about him on social media and in the mainstream press are positive. Some conservative Catholics, for example, have [expressed general concerns about his papacy](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/us/conservative-us-catholics-feel-left-out-of-the-popes-embrace.html), and some other Catholics have [questioned his response to the clergy sex abuse scandal](http://www.religionnews.com/2013/12/04/pope-francis-ignoring-clergy-sex-abuse-beginning-wonder/). The church announced a [new commission ](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/06/most-u-s-catholics-call-addressing-clergy-sex-abuse-a-top-priority/)on the scandal last week. And despite Pope Francis’ popularity, there’s [no evidence in Pew Research data](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/11/25/no-clear-pope-francis-effect-among-u-s-catholics/) that he has sparked a discernible increase in the number of self-identifying Catholics or those who report attending Mass at least once a week. Our most recent[ poll on views of the pope](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/09/12/six-months-into-papacy-large-majority-of-catholics-continue-to-express-favorable-view-of-pope-francis/) was conducted in September, when eight-in-ten U.S. Catholics (79%) said they viewed Francis favorably, about the same as shortly after his election in March. That’s similar to the high-water mark for his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who was seen favorably by 83% of American Catholics in April 2008. By comparison, Pope John Paul II surpassed the 90% favorability mark in multiple polls among U.S. Catholics in the 1980s and 1990s. The new [Post-ABC poll](http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/politics/washington-post-abc-news-poll-december-4-8-2013/652/) finds Francis to be more popular than Benedict was: Francis gets a 92% favorability rating among U.S. Catholics in that poll, compared with 76% who had a favorable impression of Benedict in February 2013 and 74% who viewed Benedict favorably in April 2008. Pope John Paul II – who was [Time’s Man of the Year in 1994](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019712_2019711_2019690,00.html) – was seen favorably by 87% of American Catholics a few weeks before his death in 2005, his highest rating in Post-ABC polls. Given the poll's margin of error, that is effectively a statistical tie with Francis' 92% rating today.