Little more than half of American Catholics regard abortion as a sin, according to a new comprehensive survey on Catholicism ahead of the Pope's visit to the US later this month.
Only 57 per cent of Catholics in the United States agreed with the statement that it is sinful to have an abortion compared with 48 per cent of the US general public, according to the study carried out by the Pew Research Center. However, that figure rises to 60 per cent among the young (18-29-year-olds). The issue has been seen as highly contentious for Catholics who make up nearly a quarter of the total US population.
And the study found that although the number of Catholics is dropping almost a half of the US population (45 per cent) now identifies itself as having a Catholic connection in some way, whether it be through being a practising or ex-Catholic, or through a spouse.
The survey also found large numbers of Catholics not regarding as sinful the use of contraceptives (66 per cent) and cohabitation (54 per cent), divorce and remarriage without an annulment (49 per cent).
The 2015 Pew survey was conducted between May 5 and June 7 among a national sample of 5,122 adults reached on conventional cellular phones, including 1,016 Catholics. The margin of sampling error for results among Catholics is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points; the error margin is 5.5 points among the sample of 425 “Cultural Catholics” and among the sample of 413 “Ex-Catholics.”
Picture above: The Pope will lead Midday Prayer with the bishops of the United States at St Matthew's Cathedral, Washington, on the first full day of his tour of the US later this month
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