The Times Poll : Americans Like Pope but Challenge Doctrine

When Pope John Paul II makes a pastoral visit to the United States next month, he will find that Americans in general--and Catholics in particular--have a highly favorable impression of him. But his personal popularity does not translate among Catholics into strong fidelity to official church doctrine, especially on matters of sex and marriage, the Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

A majority of the nation’s 53 million Catholics disagree with the Pope’s teachings and policies on a number of significant issues. That disagreement is strongest and most striking among Catholics age 40 and younger, the survey shows.

Moreover, by a 10-1 ratio, U.S. Catholics say that a member may disagree with church teachings and still be considered a loyal follower.

Loyalty Qualified

And even among those Catholics who are extraordinarily strong in their support of the Pope’s doctrine and policies, only one in five say that a member must follow all the church’s teachings to be considered faithful.

Thus, they are not likely to feel obliged to change their views on these matters because of speeches the pontiff is expected to give on his U.S. tour that will underscore traditional Catholic teaching--particularly the Vatican’s ban on contraception, artificial insemination, abortion, premarital sex and divorce.

Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, a noted historian at the Catholic University in Washington, said he found the evidence of wide diversity of beliefs within the U.S. church “painful and distressing, but not surprising.”

“The only question to which 53 million Catholics would give an answer approaching unity is if you asked them about the divinity of Christ. . . . You’d get something nigh to unanimity on accepting that one. . . . But there are questions to which there are no certain answers this side of eternity.”

I. A. Lewis, director of the Los Angeles Times Poll, said, “The data show that American Catholics feel it is perfectly appropriate for their church to take stands on dogma, but at the same time they have the right to disagree and still be firmly devoted to their faith.”

Only one-fourth of American Catholics surveyed said they believe that a Pope is infallible in matters of faith and morals when he says he is. But 85% of those who do believe he is infallible nevertheless said a church member may disagree with official teachings and still be loyal. A Pope last invoked infallibility in 1950.

The survey found that, with several exceptions, American Catholics differ little in religious ideology from Protestants; in fact, in matters of sexual morality, the attitudes of Catholics in most cases are not substantially different from the views of the U.S. population as a whole.

Wrong to Bar Women

On the question of women priests--the Catholic Church does not permit women to be ordained--60% of all Catholics surveyed said it is wrong to bar women from the clergy.

And younger Catholics--those between the ages of 18 and 40--oppose the ban on women priests by a lopsided ratio of 4 to 1; only 18% said they agree with the Vatican’s prohibition. Just under half of Catholics age 41 and older oppose women priests. There was no significant difference between male and female Catholics on this issue.

Two-thirds of Protestants and 65% of the population as a whole said it is wrong to exclude women from the clergy.

The Pope will speak about the role of women in the church when he addresses men and women members of religious orders at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco on Sept. 17.

Twenty times more Catholics said they have a favorable impression of Pope John Paul II than those who hold unfavorable views of him, 84% to 4%, the survey found.

A Positive Image

While three-fourths of Catholics under age 41 have a positive image of the Pope, that percentage climbs to 89% for those above that age.

More than half of Protestant Christians take a favorable view of John Paul, while only 8% regard him with disfavor. And 61% of all Americans think well of the pontiff.

Of all religious groupings in the survey, white fundamentalists had the least favorable impression of the Pope, with 11% regarding him negatively. But even so, more than four times as many had a positive impression.

The personal quality that by far the greatest number of all respondents said they admired the most in the Pope was his making “efforts for peace,” followed by “the fact that he travels widely.” The visit Sept. 10-19 to nine U.S. cities will be the pontiff’s 60th trip outside Italy since he assumed the papacy in 1978.

These admired qualities were picked in about the same proportion by persons of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and other faiths, as well as by those who said they had no ties to any religious group.

‘Out of Step’

The least-liked quality of the Pope--picked the most frequently by all groups in the survey--was the belief that he “is out of step with American Catholics.” Other qualities most often seen negatively by Catholics were that the Pope is “too stern a disciplinarian” and “too strict in his dogma,” and that he “discriminates against women” and “makes too many concessions to government leaders.”

Persons holding no religious persuasion ranked “not (being) compassionate toward homosexuals and AIDS patients” along with being out of step with Catholics at the top of their “least-admired” list.

In San Francisco, which has the second-highest per-capita rate of AIDS patients among U.S. cities, the Pope will meet and pray with about 50 AIDS sufferers and their families during a service on Sept. 17 at Mission Dolores.

More than 80% of Catholics sampled said they plan to see the Pope while he is in the United States next month--a few in person at a Mass or motorcade, but most on television. Only 43% of Protestants said they will pay much attention to his visit--less than the percentage of those who belong to non-Christian religions and less than the American public as a whole.

Regarding official Catholic teaching on sexual morals, 41% of the Catholics sampled said they thought the church’s position should remain the same. But more than twice as many want more liberal policies as those who want these teachings to become more conservative.

Urge Liberalization

One in five older Catholics said they would like the church to become more liberal on sexual morals; just over 40% of those age 40 and under would like to see the church move in that direction. Ten percent in that age bracket would like Catholic sexual teachings to be more conservative.

The inference is that unless U.S. Catholics change their views as they grow older, the Catholic population will become increasingly liberal and thus in greater apparent conflict with unchanging Vatican policies.

The Times survey asked respondents whether they thought a series of actions that the Catholic Church considers “gravely evil” were sinful or not.

While a majority of the Protestant and other Christian respondents said they thought sexual relations between unmarried people are sinful, Catholics were nearly evenly divided on the issue. However, nearly two-thirds of the younger Catholics said such sexual activity was not a sin.

In addition, only one-third of Catholics sampled said masturbation is a sin--the same percentage as Protestants--although the Catholic Church teaches that the practice is sinful.

Stand on Divorce

A majority of all religious groups--except for white fundamentalists--said divorce was not a sin. Catholics took this view by a ratio of 2 to 1.

Artificial birth control--which the Pope has frequently upheld as immoral--was considered sinful by fewer than one in four Catholics, with the ratio dipping to fewer than one in six for Catholics age 40 and younger.

But engaging in homosexual behavior was considered sinful, according to the overall Catholic sample, by a ratio of more than 2 to 1; Protestants took the same view by a ratio of 4 to 1. Nearly 70% of all Americans think homosexual behavior is sinful.

Although the Vatican recently issued a document declaring that most forms of human artificial insemination are morally wrong, no more than 20% of members of all religious groups, Catholics included, agree with this view. But there is split opinion within all faith groups over whether surrogate parenting, in which a married couple hires another woman to carry and give birth to their child, is a sin.

The same is true regarding euthanasia--helping someone die before that might happen from natural causes. The white fundamentalists are the only religious group in which a majority (53%) consider the practice sinful.

Bioethical Issues

When John Paul meets with Catholic health care workers at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix on Sept. 14, he is expected to emphasize church teachings on bioethical issues and the inviolability of human life.

The survey asked a series of questions about whether the leaders of the respondents’ religions should take certain public policy stands. There was no consensus among Catholics or any other faith group about stands on nuclear weapons and arms control, or the redistribution of wealth--two topics on which the American Catholic bishops have recently issued major position statements.

A bare majority of Catholics felt that it is appropriate for church leaders to take a public position regarding abortion, and only 35% said they would favor a law prohibiting federally funded abortions. Nearly half of both Protestants and Catholics said they would oppose such a law.

Substantial majorities of Christian groups also favored allowing prayers in public schools, but there was no solid support for federal funding of schools run by religious organizations. Although 45% of Catholics favored it, only 30% of Protestants did.

Catholic respondents were more apt to favor legalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults than were Protestants (50% vs. 40%), and they also were more in favor of churches offering sanctuary to Central American refugees (41% vs. 31%), and the Vatican establishing diplomatic relations with Israel (44% versus 25%). (The Vatican has not granted full diplomatic recognition to the Jewish state.)

Liturgical Changes

About four of five Catholics said they were aware of liturgical changes in the church, and they approved of the increased involvement by laity in distributing communion by a ratio of more than 2 to 1.

The Times survey found--not surprisingly--that Catholics who attend Mass once a week or more and who consider themselves strongly religious are far more inclined to agree with the Pope’s policies and teachings than are Catholics who attend church services infrequently and consider themselves only moderate or non-practicing in their faith.

The Times Poll interviewed 2,040 American adults, of whom 957 were Roman Catholics, by telephone for five days, from Aug. 15 to 19. The margin of error for the entire Times Poll was 4% in either direction.

VIEWS OF AMERICAN CATHOLICS These Los Angeles Times Poll results reflect answers by 2,040 respondents nationwide, 957 of them Catholics, to questions asked Aug. 15-19.

Those who said they agreed that it is a sin . . .

CATHOLICS 18-40 41+ Women Men All For unmarried people to have sexual 30% 61% 48% 42% 45% relations For married couples to divorce 25% 30% 23% 32% 27% For married couples to use artificial 13% 23% 14% 23% 18% method of birth control To use condoms as a protection 12% 16% 12% 18% 14% against AIDS--for “safe sex” To engage in homosexual behavior 61% 73% 60% 74% 66% For married couples to use artificial 16% 24% 17% 22% 20% insemination to have children For married couples to employ 32% 53% 41% 43% 42% 39% surrogate parenting To assist in euthanasia 44% 48% 48% 43% 46%

ALL POLLED For unmarried people to have sexual 49% relations For married couples to divorce 27% For married couples to use artificial 12% method of birth control To use condoms as a protection 12% against AIDS--for “safe sex” To engage in homosexual behavior 69% For married couples to use artificial 18% insemination to have children For married couples to employ 32% surrogate parenting To assist in euthanasia 44%

VIEWS ON THE POPE’S POLICIES These are Los Angeles Times Poll results of an Aug. 15-19 survey of 2,040 respondents nationwide, 957 of them Catholics.

“Do you believe in the infallibility of the Pope?”

CATHOLICS ALL 18-40 41+ Women Men All POLLED Pope is infallible 24% 28% 26% 26% 26% 14% Pope is not infallible 27% 32% 29% 30% 29% 32% Don’t Know 49% 40% 45% 44% 45% 43%

‘Is the exclusion of women from the clergy right or wrong?”

CATHOLICS ALL 18-40 41+ Women Men All POLLED Right 18% 36% 26% 28% 27% 21% Wrong 72% 48% 63% 57% 60% 65% Don’t Know 10% 16% 11% 15% 13% 14%

“Which of the following changes would you most like to see take place in the Catholic Church?” *

CATHOLICS ALL 18-40 41+ Women Men All POLLED Permission for Contraception 40% 26% 38% 27% 33% Liberal Attitude Toward Abortions 19% 16% 17% 18% 18% Women Priests 21% 12% 17% 16% 17% Optional Celibacy for Male Priests 18% 17% 16% 19% 17% Acceptance of Divorce 17% 18% 22% 12% 17% More Laity Involvement in Decisions 10% 18% 16% 12% 14% More Social Action by Clergy 5% 10% 7% 8% 7%

* This question only asked of Catholics.