79 In percentage terms the number of US Catholics who view Pope Francis favourably, according to research conducted by the Pew Research Centre.
Just 4% of Catholics in America say they have an unfavourable view of the first Latin American Pope, while 17% express no opinion or say they have not heard enough about Francis to have an opinion.
Francis’ current favourability rating among US Catholics is roughly equivalent to the high water mark for Pope Benedict XVI, who was rated favourably by 83% of US Catholics in April 2008 following his visit to the US. Pope John Paul II was rated favourably by upwards of nine-in-ten US Catholics in three separate Pew Research polls in the 1980s and 1990s.
50 The percentage drop of Britons identifying themselves as Anglican over the past 30 years, according to statistics published last week in the annual British Social Attitudes survey. The proportion of Britons who describe themselves as Catholic, however, has remained steady during the same period.
According to the survey, 9% of those questioned last year said they were Catholic, compared to 10% of those asked in 1983. This compares with a decline from 40% to 20% of those saying they were Anglican during the same period.
The proportion of Christians identifying with other Christian denominations also remained stable at 17%.
