From the editor’s desk

Everything to play for

Attempts to manipulate public opinion to give the Pope a hard time when he visits Britain later this month appear to have fallen flat. The Ipsos MORI poll conducted for The Tablet shows only limited awareness of the visit at least at this stage, but little hostility to it. While there has been no concerted effort by the Church to sell the visit to the public at large, secularist organisations have strained every muscle to turn popular feeling against him. Given the sustained attention in the media given to the scandal of clerical child abuse, on the Continent, in Ireland and in the United States, this is all the more surprising. Nor does it necessarily count against the Pope that the more controversial teachings he represents, such as on abortion and homosexuality, are out of step with British public opinion. Almost half the public thinks it is “a good thing that the Roman Catholic Church has strong moral views” and only one in five disagrees. Britain has not stopped being a tolerant society that respects people with convictions even if it does not share them.

Other findings from the poll show what an excellent opportunity the papal visit offers for Catholic teaching to reach out to sections of society who might otherwise be indifferent to it. For instance, 30 per cent of the A and B social groups, even at this stage, say they are likely to follow the visit fairly, or very, closely. Has there ever been a state visit to Britain before of which that would have been true? Among all social groups, this figure drops to one in five, but media exposure of the Pope’s activities will have increased exponentially by the time he arrives.

The child-abuse factor is clearly present, and may have been in people’s minds when they were asked whether they thought the Catholic Church was on balance a force for good. Nevertheless 41 per cent agreed, and only 17 per cent did not. Oddly, while the figure was lower than for when people were asked about religion in general – 52 per cent thought religion per se was a force for good – more people, 22 per cent, disagreed. Is that because the very word religion prompts some people to remember 9/11, Iran and the Taliban? But the Catholic figure alone suggests Pope Benedict can look forward to a favourable reception.

Clearly, there is all to play for, and public opinion is at the very least open to persuasion. Nor is it necessarily the case that the public will see Pope Benedict as a total stranger. Nearly two-thirds recognised the Pope from his picture, roughly the same number as picked out the England football manager. This is somewhat higher than the recognition factor for the leading cleric of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. 

Such surveys as this always seem to reveal a touch of quirkiness. Thus, according to the survey, 18 per cent of Catholics apparently think women are allowed to be priests in the Catholic Church – not ought to be, but already are. It may be just as quirky to believe, as 4 per cent of the Catholics sampled say they do, that the Church has handled the child-abuse scandal very well. But the overwhelming verdict is the other way. More than half of Catholics – not very different from the 55 per cent of non-Catholics, as it happens – think it was handled badly. The Pope may need to say something about that.