Pope Francis Gains Support Among Democrats and Liberals In the United States
Democrats and liberals have a more positive opinion towards the Roman Catholic Church after Pope Francis' three-city tour to the United States last month.
According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center released on Wednesday, 28% of all U.S. adults surveyed report a positive view of the Church, with only 6% having negative views. 50% of Catholics also have more positive opinions, with 22% non-Catholics favoring the Church as well.
Those who identify themselves as liberals and Democrats also respect the Catholic Church more after the pontiff's visit. 35% of Democrats and 39% of liberals speak fondly of the Church, the study indicated. The survey also showed that the Catholic Church is more popular among Democrats than Republicans (27%) and conservatives (22%).
However, despite the people's favorable opinion of the Church following the pope's trip, majority of Americans' opinions remained unchanged. 58% of all U.S. adults surveyed said that their views regarding Catholicism weren't affected at all by Pope Francis' tour, the research study indicated.
Pope Francis' six-day U.S. visit, which included New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., highlighted some of his top concerns, such as religious freedom, celebrating immigrants' heritage, the importance of women to the Catholic Church, climate change, and economic inequality, Yahoo! News reported. The pope also canonized 18th century Franciscan friar Junipero Serra in the Washington leg of his tour.
Pope Francis to Visit Mexico in 2016
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi recently announced that Pope Francis will set foot in Mexico in 2016. The pontiff's full itinerary would not be announced until November, but it was said that he will travel to Mexico City and visit the capital's Basilica of Guadalupe, The Yucatan Times reported.
Televisa News Reporter and Vatican correspondent Valentina Alazraki said that Pope Francis' visit in Mexico will take place during the first half of the year, The Yucatan Times noted. The pope said in an interview with the network in March that any visit to the country would have to be at least a week long, The Guardian wrote.
Pope Francis also planned to visit his native Argentina next year, as well as Chile and Uruguay, but it's unclear whether the trips would still push through, The Huffington Post noted. Another trip planned in 2016 is in Krakow, Poland for World Youth Day.
The pope will also head to a three-day visit to Kenya from Nov. 25-27, 2015, KBC reported. His itinerary will include a State of Address to the nation at the JKIA, a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta and senior government officials at the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) offices, a Mass celebration, and a meet-up with select young people.