UNITED STATES
Huffington Post
Jaweed Kaleem
While the College of Cardinals meets to discuss the priorities of the Roman Catholic Church and select a new pope, a new survey shows that American Catholics see sex abuse by clergy as the church’s biggest problem.
A survey from the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life asked U.S. Catholics to describe the problems facing the church and found that 34 percent thought the most important was sexual abuse. No other issue, including lower church attendance and loss of faithful youth, got more than 10 percent of responses in the survey.
Conducted between Feb. 28 and March 3 among 184 Catholics, the poll also asked about the church’s positive role in society. Twenty-seven percent of U.S. Catholics surveyed said the church’s role in helping the poor, sick and needy was the most important, helpful work it does.
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