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Is the Pope Really Changing Anything?

Is the Pope Really Changing Anything?

His Vatican reforms, teachings on helping the poor and emphasis on humility have made Pope Francis a popular figure, but a new poll has found that little has changed when it comes to actual behavior of the Catholic Church at large.

The Pew Research Center poll found that while 85 percent of American Catholics have a favorable view of Pope Francis, there has been no discernible rise in the number of Catholics who attend mass or confession. Even the overall number of people who identify as Catholic has remained pretty flat.

Despite all that, the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior analyst at the National Catholic Reporter, told The New York Times, “Since church attendance has been declining since the 1950s, the fact that it did not go down could be considered a victory.”

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