{"id":8685,"date":"2021-10-27T10:59:14","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T15:59:14","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:56:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:56:30","slug":"fast-facts-as-biden-meets-with-pope-francis","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/10\/27\/fast-facts-as-biden-meets-with-pope-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast facts as Biden meets with Pope Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-640-wide\"><img data-dominant-color=\"868481\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #868481;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" height=\"360\" width=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"Pope Francis is joined by then-Vice President Joe Biden after addressing Congress on Sept. 24, 2015, during his first visit to the United States.\" class=\"wp-image-12736 not-transparent\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pope Francis is joined by then-Vice President Joe Biden after addressing Congress on Sept. 24, 2015, during his first visit to the United States. (Mindy Schauer\/Digital First Media\/Orange County Register\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Joe Biden is set to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/biden-meet-pope-amid-pressure-anti-abortion-us-bishops-2021-10-26\/\">meet with Pope Francis<\/a> at the Vatican this week as part of a larger trip to Europe. Though they plan to discuss topics such as climate change and poverty, the meeting also takes place amid a debate over whether Biden \u2013 the nation\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/01\/20\/biden-only-second-catholic-president-but-nearly-all-have-been-christians-2\/\">second Catholic president<\/a> \u2013 should receive Holy Communion. Biden\u2019s support of abortion rights has prompted some Catholic clergy to argue he should be denied Communion, but in September, the pope said politics <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pope-francis-joe-biden-communion-d58f0eec9ac1a1ff576e38fb85bf532f\">has no place<\/a> in questions about who gets the Eucharist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ahead of the meeting, here are some recent Pew Research Center survey findings about Biden, the pope, the debate over whether the president should receive Communion, and more: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Overall, 64% of U.S. adults said they think Biden is at least somewhat religious, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2021\/03\/30\/most-democrats-and-republicans-know-biden-is-catholic-but-they-differ-sharply-about-how-religious-he-is\/\">March 2021 survey<\/a>. But views differed widely by partisan affiliation. Nearly nine-in-ten Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party (88%) said Biden is at least somewhat religious, including 45% who said he is very religious. By contrast, almost two-thirds of people who identify with or lean toward the Republican Party (63%) said Biden is not too or not at all religious.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-640-wide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/10\/27\/fast-facts-as-biden-meets-with-pope-francis\/pf_03-30-21_biden-religion-00-1-png\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-12713\"><img data-dominant-color=\"dfdbdc\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #dfdbdc;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/PF_03.30.21_Biden.religion-00-1.png?resize=480,322 480w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/PF_03.30.21_Biden.religion-00-1.png?resize=782,524 782w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/PF_03.30.21_Biden.religion-00-1.png?resize=960,644 960w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/PF_03.30.21_Biden.religion-00-1.png?resize=1200,804 1200w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/PF_03.30.21_Biden.religion-00-1.png?resize=1274,854 1274w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"429\" width=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/PF_03.30.21_Biden.religion-00-1.png?w=640\" alt=\"A bar chart showing that most Democrats say Biden is at least somewhat religious and mentions his faith about the right amount; most Republicans disagree\" class=\"wp-image-12713 not-transparent\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Among U.S. Catholics, 69% said in the same March survey that Biden is at least somewhat religious. But views again <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2021\/03\/30\/most-democrats-and-republicans-know-biden-is-catholic-but-they-differ-sharply-about-how-religious-he-is\/pf_03-30-21_biden-religion-00-2\/\">differed substantially by party<\/a>. About nine-in-ten Catholic Democrats (89%) said Biden is at least somewhat religious, including 51% who said he is very religious. Among Catholic Republicans, a 56% majority said Biden is not too or not at all religious.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Two-thirds of Catholics said in March 2021 that Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/03\/30\/u-s-catholics-divided-by-party-on-whether-biden-should-be-denied-communion-over-his-abortion-stance\/\">should be allowed to receive Communion during Mass<\/a>, while 29% said he should not be allowed to do this. However, among Catholic Republicans, a slim majority (55%) said Biden\u2019s abortion stance should disqualify him from receiving Communion; just 11% of Catholic Democrats said the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-640-wide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/03\/30\/u-s-catholics-divided-by-party-on-whether-biden-should-be-denied-communion-over-his-abortion-stance\/ft_2021-03-30_bidencommunion_03\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ft_2021.03.30_bidencommunion_03.png?w=640\" alt=\"A bar chart showing that most U.S. Catholics think Biden's abortion views should not disqualify him from Communion\" class=\"wp-image-389734\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Six-in-ten U.S. adults had a favorable view of Pope Francis and 28% viewed him unfavorably, <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/10\/07\/two-thirds-of-u-s-catholics-unaware-of-popes-new-restrictions-on-traditional-latin-mass\/#views-of-pope-francis\">according to a September 2021 survey<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-310-wide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/10\/07\/two-thirds-of-u-s-catholics-unaware-of-popes-new-restrictions-on-traditional-latin-mass\/ft_2021-10-07_viewsofthepope_05\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ft_2021.10.07_viewsofthepope_05.png?w=310\" alt=\"A table showing that views of Pope Francis are stable among Catholics across the board\" class=\"wp-image-401369\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Among U.S. Catholics, views of Francis <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/10\/07\/two-thirds-of-u-s-catholics-unaware-of-popes-new-restrictions-on-traditional-latin-mass\/#views-of-pope-francis\">have remained fairly steady<\/a> recently. Overall, 83% of Catholics had a favorable view of the pope while just 14% expressed an unfavorable view, according to the same September survey. That was little changed from March (82% vs. 14%, respectively). The September survey found ongoing political polarization in the way Catholics view the pope: Catholic Democrats were 20 percentage points more likely than Catholic Republicans to have a favorable view of Francis (91% vs. 71%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the September 2021 survey, Catholic Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/10\/07\/two-thirds-of-u-s-catholics-unaware-of-popes-new-restrictions-on-traditional-latin-mass\/ft_2021-10-07_viewsofthepope_04\/\">were less inclined<\/a> than Catholic Democrats to say \u201cyes\u201d when asked whether positive words like \u201ccompassionate,\u201d \u201chumble\u201d and \u201copen-minded\u201d describe Pope Francis \u2013 though majorities of Catholics in both parties said the pope\u00a0<em>does<\/em>\u00a0embody these traits. Catholic Republicans were more likely than Catholic Democrats to ascribe certain negative attributes, including \u201cout of touch\u201d and \u201cnaive,\u201d to Francis. Nearly half of Catholic Republicans said the pope is \u201ctoo liberal\u201d (49%), while just 16% of Catholic Democrats said this.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Biden and Francis plan to discuss climate change, an issue on which the pope <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/agenda\/2017\/08\/pope-francis-listen-to-the-cry-of-the-earth\/\">has been outspoken<\/a>. In a 2017 survey, <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2019\/01\/24\/like-americans-overall-u-s-catholics-are-sharply-divided-by-party\/\">U.S. Catholics\u2019 views on climate change<\/a> also differed by party. Eight-in-ten Catholic Democrats said the Earth is warming mostly because of human activity, such as burning fossil fuels, but just 22% of Catholic Republicans said the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are some recent survey findings about Joe Biden, the pope, the debate over whether the president should receive Communion, and more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":584,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2021-10-27T15:28:00Z","apple_news_api_id":"e1434e49-a6dd-4101-8ef8-8bb70ecd7dc4","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2021-10-27T15:28:00Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A4UNOSabdQQGO-Iu3Ds19xA","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,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[180,383,436,164,172,447],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-8685","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-catholicism","category-joe-biden","category-pope-francis","category-religion-abortion","category-religion-politics-1","category-religion-politics-3","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":567,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/10\/27\/fast-facts-as-biden-meets-with-pope-francis\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":12736,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":12736,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":12736,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":12736,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":12736,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp?w=720&h=405&crop=1","width":720,"height":405,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":12736,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2021\/10\/FT_21.10.26_BidenPope_feature-jpg.webp?w=1200&h=628&crop=1","width":1200,"height":628,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Biden meets with Pope Francis: Fast facts","description":"Here are some recent survey findings about Joe Biden, the pope, the debate over whether the president should receive Communion, and more.","og_title":"Fast facts as Biden meets with Pope Francis","og_description":"Here are some recent survey findings about Joe Biden, the pope, the debate over whether the president should receive Communion, and more.","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":{"research-teams":10818963},"custom_schema":[],"twitter_title":"Fast facts as Biden meets with Pope Francis","twitter_description":"Here are some recent survey findings about Joe Biden, the pope, the debate over whether the president should receive Communion, and more.","og_image":12736,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/8685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/short-read"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/584"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/8685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28195,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/8685\/revisions\/28195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"workflow-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/workflow-status?post=8685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}