Confidence in the Pope's ability to reform is declining

Germans' confidence in the Pope's ability to reform is declining

Younger people more confident

The eagerly awaited world synod begins in the Vatican on Wednesday. But can Pope Francis really modernize the Catholic Church? Confidence in his ability to reform was significantly greater among Germans.

Shortly before the start of the World Synod in the Vatican, only one in five people in Germany believes that Pope Francis can modernize the Catholic Church. Nine years ago it was one in two people.

A survey published on Sunday by the Yougov polling institute for the Catholic News Agency (KNA) showed: 19.5 percent of the 2,037 respondents answered "yes" to the question "Do you believe that Pope Francis will do more to promote the Catholic faith in the 21st century?" . century than its predecessors?" Around 55 percent answered “no” and just under 26 percent answered “don’t know/no answer”.

Sharp decline

The institute had already asked the same question in November 2014, a good year and a half after Francis took office. At that time, 46 percent answered “yes,” 37 percent answered “no” and 17 percent answered “don’t know/no answer.”

The trust of Catholics (33 percent yes) in the Pope is significantly higher than that of Christians from the Protestant regional churches (19 percent) and that of non-believing respondents (12 percent). The proportion of Muslims, Jews, Orthodox Christians and members of free churches among those surveyed was too small to be able to seriously evaluate their answers.

Similar results in Switzerland

There were more yes votes among the men surveyed (22 percent) than among the women (17 percent). If you look at the different age groups, 25 to 34 year olds (29 percent yes) are most likely to believe the Pope will provide a boost to modernization. With increasing age, the proportion of yes votes decreases significantly (35-44: 23 percent, 45-54: 18 percent, 55 and over: 14 percent).

In an almost simultaneous survey in Switzerland with 1,052 participants and the same question, there were similar approval ratings: 21 percent answered "yes", 44 percent answered "no" and 34 percent answered "don't know/no answer".

Source

Cathcon:  Many of the people answering won't be aware of the Rupnik case.  The figures would head even more south if they did.