UNITED STATES
Washington Post
Pope Francis is making more Catholics excited about faith, but actions slow to follow
By Michelle Boorstein, Published: March 5
In the year since he was elected, Pope Francis has become the most talked-about person on the Web. Millions are riveted by his words, and, to many, his very name signifies humanity and compassion in a world rife with divisions.
Still, he appears not to have had much impact on the number of Americans attending Mass, converting to Catholicism, giving to Catholic charities and other conventional measures, according to interviews with a wide range of U.S. church leaders, experts and other Catholics as well as early data released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.
It’s not clear that “there has been a so-called ‘Francis effect,’ a discernible change in the way American Catholics approach their faith,” according to the report.
And yet, his effect is undeniably everywhere.
Forty percent of U.S. Catholics polled by Pew say they’ve been praying more often in the past year, 21 percent say they’re reading the Bible “and other religious materials” more often and 26 percent say they’ve become “more excited” about their faith. Majorities say they haven’t changed their behaviors.
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