{"id":19148,"date":"2013-12-06T12:29:34","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T17:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/most-u-s-catholics-call-addressing-clergy-sex-abuse-a-top-priority\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:44:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:44:37","slug":"most-u-s-catholics-call-addressing-clergy-sex-abuse-a-top-priority","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/12\/06\/most-u-s-catholics-call-addressing-clergy-sex-abuse-a-top-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"Most U.S. Catholics call addressing clergy sex abuse a top priority"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pope Francis is <a href=\"http:\/\/bigstory.ap.org\/article\/pope-forms-commission-advise-sex-abuse\">creating a new commission<\/a> to advise the Vatican on how to deal with the ongoing clergy sex abuse scandal, which continues to make headlines in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2013\/03\/18\/us-catholics-happy-with-selection-of-pope-francis\/\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e4d6d4\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e4d6d4;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"432\" height=\"300\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px\" class=\"wp-image-29649 not-transparent\" alt=\"DN_Sex_Abuse\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png 432w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png?resize=300,208 300w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png?resize=200,139 200w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png?resize=260,181 260w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png?resize=310,215 310w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png?resize=420,292 420w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png?resize=160,111 160w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2013\/12\/DN_Sex_Abuse.png?resize=320,222 320w\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Effects from the scandal continue to ripple across the U.S. Catholic landscape. On Thursday, the same day Boston Cardinal Sean O\u2019Malley announced the commission\u2019s formation, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/local\/234605261.html\">released a list of more than 30 priests<\/a> it says have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Vatican\u2019s announcement comes after\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.religionnews.com\/2013\/12\/04\/pope-francis-ignoring-clergy-sex-abuse-beginning-wonder\/\">some recent criticism<\/a>\u00a0of the pope for not moving more forcefully to confront the problem.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><!--more-->Most Catholics in the U.S. say the sex abuse scandal is one priority they want Francis to address. After the new pope was elected in March, 70% of U.S. Catholics said that addressing the abuse scandal should be \u201ca top priority\u201d for him \u2013 more than any other potential priority listed in a <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2013\/03\/18\/us-catholics-happy-with-selection-of-pope-francis\/\">Pew Research survey.<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, in response to an <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2013\/03\/06\/us-catholics-see-sex-abuse-as-the-churchs-most-important-problem-charity-as-its-most-important-contribution\/\">open-ended question<\/a> about \u201cthe most important\u201d problem facing the Catholic Church today, far more U.S. Catholics mentioned the abuse scandal (34%) than any other issue.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Francis is the third pope to address the clergy sex abuse scandal in the last decade. When his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, announced plans to step down in February, one-third (33%) of American Catholics said Benedict did an excellent or good job addressing the scandal, while nearly twice as many (63%) <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2013\/02\/21\/us-catholics-divided-on-churchs-direction-under-new-pope\/\">said he did only a fair or poor job<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Pope Francis was elected in March, 70% of U.S. Catholics said that addressing the abuse scandal should be \u201ca top priority\u201d for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"bylines":[854],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"class_list":["post-19148","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-michael-lipka","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short 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