Ross Douthat, in his Sunday column for the New York Times, is clear that the new Papal statement – “On Love in the Family” – gives “the post-1960s separation between doctrine and pastoral practice… a papal imprimatur, rather than being a state of affairs that popes were merely tolerating for the sake of unity”.
And 44% of the panelists assembled for YouGov’s First Verdict seem to agree that the Pope’s intervention does amount to a licence for a more liberal Catholicism. 32% of Panel members did, however, interpret the new settlement as a victory for moral traditionalists;
We also asked the Panel if they thought the Catholic Church would change its fundamental teachings on homosexuality and abortion.
50% thought the Church would never change its teaching on the status of what 54% of Americans think is best described as a foetus but which anti-abortion campaigners and Catholic doctrine regards as an “unborn child”;
Americans were more expectant of a change of teaching from the Vatican on homosexuality. 39% expected acceptance within the next thirty years – more than the 37% who expected that opposition to the LGBT movement would remain;
For more about Portrait of America and the methodology behind First Verdict, click here. For the complete Portrait of America catalog, click here.
