U.S Catholics increasingly critical of the way Pope Francis has handled sex abuse scandal % ofus Catholics who say Pope Francis is
The accusations have coincided with a drop in the share of U.S. Catholics who approve of the way the pope is handling the abuse crisis. Just three-in-ten American Catholics (31%) now say the pontiff is doing a “good” (18%) or “excellent” (13%) job of addressing the sex abuse scandal, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center. This is much lower than the 54% who gave Francis good or excellent marks in February 2014 (almost a year after he became pope), and the 45% who did so at the beginning of 2018. Meanwhile, 62% of American Catholics now say the pontiff is doing only a “fair” or “poor” job of handling the scandal.
U.S Catholics increasingly critical of  | the way Pope Francis has handled sex  | abuse scandal  | % ofus Catholics who say Pope Francis is  | the scandal an in  | job addressing the sex abuse  | scandal in the Catholic Church  | NET Excellent/ good  | 62  | 54%  | 46  | 55  | 45  | 39%  | 31  | NET Only fair/ poor  | Feb  | June  | Jan. Sept.  | 2015  | 2014  | 2018 Sept. 2018  | Source: Survey conducted Sept. 18-24 2018.  | "Confidence in Pope Francis Down Sharply in U.S  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 