Pope Francis' popularity in the U.S. is steadily rising, according to poll results in a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

NBC News reported that 95 percent of Catholics who regularly go to church and two thirds of citizens with no religion, atheists or agnostics, have given the pope high marks.

The research center said that Pope Francis' popularity has "eclipsed any numbers his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, ever posted and puts him on par with Pope John Paul II in the 1980s and 1990s," two years after he was named as the leader of the Catholic church, the news outlet noted.

"Among most US religious groups, Francis' favorability rating has risen as more people have gained familiarity with the pope and become able to express an opinion about him," the Pew Research Center said, as quoted by AFP.

For its survey, Pew said it interviewed 1,504 American adults on landlines and cell phones held on February 18-22, results of which were posted at www.pewforum.org. According to AFP, Pope Francis' current percentage of favorable results compares "to 57 percent when he became pope, 58 percent in September 2013 and 66 percent in February last year."

NBC News noted that the "common touch and plain-spokenness" of Pope Francis earned him the favorable opinions from non-Catholics "regardless of their religious affiliation." 

"That was somewhat surprising because two years ago, right after Pope Francis was elected, only 4 in 10 had a favorable view," Pew researcher Jessica Martinez said, as quoted by NBC News.

A total of 15 percent of the responders said they didn't like the current Pope, "while another 15 percent claimed they could not rate him -- way down from 29 percent in March 2013," AFP wrote.

In a morning homily, Pope Francis raised some eyebrows for his somewhat unexpected remarks about atheists being redeemed by Jesus Christ and going to heaven when they die. According to a report from Catholic Vote, the Pope said that "we are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all," explaining that even though someone is an atheist, he/she will enter the gates of heaven if he/she does good things.

"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! 'Father, the atheists?' Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class," the Pope declared, as quoted by Catholic Vote. "And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace."