WaPo | Most Catholics worldwide disagree with church teachings on
divorce, abortion and contraception and are split on whether women and
married men should become priests, according to a large new poll
released Sunday and commissioned by the U.S. Spanish-language network
Univision. On the topic of gay marriage, two-thirds of Catholics polled
agree with church leaders.
Overall, however, the poll of more than 12,000 Catholics in 12
countries reveals a church dramatically divided: Between the developing
world in Africa and Asia, which hews closely to doctrine on these
issues, and Western countries in Europe, North America and parts of
Latin America, which strongly support practices that the church teaches
are immoral.
The widespread disagreement with Catholic doctrine on
abortion and contraception and the hemispheric chasm lay bare the
challenge for Pope Francis’s year-old papacy and the unity it has
engendered.
The poll, which was done by Bendixen & Amandi International for
Univision, did not include Catholics everywhere. It focused on 12
countries across the continents with some of the world’s largest
Catholic populations. The countries are home to more than six of 10
Catholics globally.
“This is a balancing act. They have to hold
together two increasingly divergent constituencies. The church has lost
its ability to dictate what people do,” said Ronald Inglehart, founding
president of the World Values Survey, an ongoing global research
project.
“Right now, the less-developed world is staying true to
the old world values, but it’s gradually eroding even there. [Pope
Francis] doesn’t want to lose the legitimacy of the more educated
people,” he added.
After his election to the papacy 11 months ago,
Francis seemed to immediately grasp the significance of the divisions
among the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. He has chosen inclusive
language, has played down the importance of following the hierarchy and
has warned against the church locking itself up “in small-minded rules.”
The poll reflects previous ones in finding that the vast majority of
Catholics appreciate his approach.
Other faiths have seen many fissures over similar questions about doctrine, including Protestant denominations and Judaism.
Pope Francis appears particularly eager to engage with divisions
around sex, marriage and gender and has called a rare “extraordinary
synod” this fall on “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family.” For that,
he has asked bishops to survey Catholics about their views of
cohabitation, same-sex parenting and contraception, among other things.
0 comments:
Post a Comment