Religious Leaders & Institutions

Since 2010, Millennials' rating of churches and other religious organizations has dipped 18 percentage points. Their views of the national news media also have grown more negative.

Pope Francis has generated goodwill toward the Catholic Church among many Americans across the political spectrum. But Democrats and liberals are especially likely to say they have a more positive view of the Church because of Francis.

On his first papal trip to the U. S., Pope Francis will visit three Northeastern cities that are within a few hundred miles of each other. But while New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., may be geographically close, their Catholic populations look different from one another in several ways.

When Pope Francis arrives in the U.S., he will find a Catholic public that is remarkably accepting of a variety of non-traditional families, according to a new survey on family life, sexuality and Catholic identity.

55% of Catholics rated Francis positively on addressing sex abuse, and 53% gave him high marks on environmental issues. But these were two out of nine areas in which Francis drew the least positive ratings.

Pope Francis will publish an encyclical addressing environmental issues and climate change this Thursday, a subject that continues to deeply divide Americans, including Catholics, along partisan and ideological lines.

A solid majority of U.S. Catholics believe that Earth is warming. But climate change is a highly politicized issue that sharply divides American Catholics, like the U.S. public as a whole, mainly along political party lines.

Popes have written encyclicals on an array of topics, ranging from the nature of work to the virginity of Jesus’ mother, Mary.

Seven-in-ten Americans rate him favorably, including two-thirds of those with no religious affiliation, a Pew Research Center poll finds.

Nearly two years into his papacy, Pope Francis continues to be widely popular: Seven-in-ten Americans view him favorably, including 90% of U.S. Catholics.