How U.S. Catholics see the role of the Church and the pope in their lives — CBS News poll
Most U.S. Catholics say they rely on the pope and the Church's teachings for difficult moral questions, this is particularly the case for those who call themselves strong Catholics.
For most U.S. Catholics, their Catholic faith is important in their daily lives, including many who call it extremely or very important. (Behind this is a big difference however. Their Catholic faith is especially important to those who routinely go to Mass, but less so for those who rarely or never go.)
The pope is, for a majority of U.S. Catholics, equally important in their connection to the Church as their local priest and parish.
But the next pope will also lead a U.S. laity with some differences within it.
A sizable number of the U.S.' current Catholics feel they have become less connected to the Church over their lives.
They aren't frequent mass attenders and don't currently consider themselves very strong Catholics.
This group tends to be a little older than those who say their connection hasn't changed, and are relatively less likely to prioritize tradition over change.
Just under half of Catholics today don't feel the Church is in touch with their personal needs. (This, even as Catholics overall said the Church is more in touch now after Francis' papacy compared to before it.)
One reason why those who feel the Catholic Church is out of touch with their own needs, say so: reports of past sexual abuse of children by priests. It's a matter most Catholics think has been handled poorly by the Vatican. Relatively fewer, although sizable numbers, point to the church's political views and stands on issues like abortion and divorce, or church doctrine itself, as reasons they feel the church is out of touch with their needs. Those who think it is out of touch still mostly believe the Church respects women as much as men, just not to the extent that those who call it "in touch" do.
Big majorities feel the Catholic Church currently provides them with spiritual guidance, forgiveness from sin, along with connection to tradition and belonging and community.
And they'd like the next Pope to be someone compassionate, also most want one who'd be outspoken.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,298 adult Catholics living in the U.S. interviewed between April 30-May 5, 2025. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education and Mass attendance according to the 2023-24 Pew Religious Landscape Study. The margin of error is ±3.8 points.
