May 2, 2002
(CBS) Most Catholic Americans are dissatisfied or angry with their Church's response to the scandal of sexual abuse of children and teenagers by priests - and last week's meeting in Rome of American Cardinals with Pope John Paul II did little to change the negative assessment from Catholics and non-Catholics alike of the response to it by the Catholic hierarchy, including the Pope.

Image of Pope John Paul II
The scandal may even have taken a toll on the overall assessment of Pope John Paul II. Despite his public statement that sexual abuse of children by priests is "a sin in the eyes of God," Americans, Catholic and non-Catholic, do not think he has gone far enough to address the problems of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The Pope's favorable rating is now significantly lower than it was before the meeting with the U.S. Cardinals in Rome.

Just over half (53 percent) of American Catholics now say they have a favorable view of Pope John Paul the Second -- a 16-point drop from almost two weeks ago, when more than two-thirds of Catholics had a favorable opinion of the Pope.

Now, just 25 percent of all Americans view the Pope favorably, while 18 percent view him unfavorably. Before the meeting of U.S. Cardinals in Rome, 37 percent of the U.S. public held a favorable view of the Pope.

Many feel the Pope and the Vatican have done a poor job handling the recent charges of sexual abuse by priests. 52 percent of Americans think the Pope and the Vatican have done a poor job handling the issue. Only a quarter says they have done a good job.

Even Catholics are torn. 45 percent of Catholics think the Pope and the Vatican have done a poor job handling the issue, while 40 percent say they have done a good job. Lapsed Catholics are even more critical: 71 percent say that he and the Vatican have done a poor job handling the sex abuse issue.

Despite last week's meeting, there is still widespread belief that the Pope needs to do more. Overall, 70 percent now say the Pope has not done enough to address the problem of sexual abuse. Among Catholics, 58 percent say he hasn't done enough.

Most Americans believe Pope John Paul probably knew all along about the problem of sexual abuse of children. 57 percent believe this is the case. 31 percent think he just found out. Nearly half of Catholics think the Pope probably knew of this all along.

The Catholic Church's Response
Two-thirds of Americans - Catholics and non-Catholics - are dissatisfied or angry with the way the Catholic Church is handling the scandals. Overall, only 16 percent feel satisfied, and only 5 percent are pleased. By comparison, 45 percent are dissatisfied and nearly one in four is angry.

This dissatisfaction is echoed by negative assessments of the way U.S. Church officials - especially Church leaders - are handling the scandals. 62 percent of Catholics - and 61 percent of the public overall - say leaders of the Church in the U.S. are doing a poor job of handling the recent charges of sexual abuse. The public gives the U.S. hierarchy worse evaluations on this issue than they give the Vatican and the Pope.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/02/opinion/polls/main507874.shtml