CBS News/New York Times Poll For release: Tuesday March 5, 2013 7:00 AM ET

Americas Catholics: Views on the Pope and the Church February 23 27, 2013 As Catholic Cardinals meet in Rome to select the next Pope, Catholics are optimistic about Pope Benedicts successor. 74% of Catholics have at least some confidence that the College of Cardinals will select a Pope who will be in touch with the needs of Catholics today, including 29% who have a great deal of confidence. Nevertheless, Catholics are less confident today than they were in 2005, just before Pope Benedicts appointment. Confidence Next Pope Will Be in Touch With Needs of Catholics Today (Among Catholic Americans) Now 4/2005 A great deal 29% 38% Some 45 44 Not much/not at all 23 16 Catholics who attend mass at least once a week are more optimistic about the next Pope. 42% of them have a great deal of confidence in the Cardinals to choose a Pope who is in touch with Catholics today. Assessing the Catholic Church 54% of Catholic Americans rate the way things are going for the Catholic Church in the United States as at least good but overall positive assessment of the Church in the U.S. has fallen since the mid-1990s. Condition of the Catholic Church in the U.S. (Among Catholic Americans) Now 9/1995 Excellent 4% 6% Good 50 61 Not so good 35 28 Poor 10 3 Looking ahead, most Catholics 60% - think things in the Catholic Church are staying about the same. Just 17% think things are generally getting better for the church, while 22% think they are getting worse.

Direction of the Catholic Church in the U.S. (Among Catholic Americans) Now 9/1995 Getting better 17% 21% Getting worse 22 24 Staying the same 60 53 Pope Benedict As Pope Benedict XVI begins his retirement, assessment of his legacy as Pope is mixed. 52% think his leadership has been a mixed blessing. While just 12% of Catholics think his leadership has hurt the Catholic Church, 26% think his leadership has helped the Church. In contrast, 63% of Catholics felt the leadership of Benedicts predecessor, Pope John Paul II, had helped the Church at the time of his death in April 2005. The Leadership of the Pope has (Among Catholic Americans) Benedict XVI John Paul II (3/2013) (4/2005) 26% 63% 12 2 52 34

Helped the Church Hurt the Church Mixed blessing

____________________________________________________________________________
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1585 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone February 2327, 2013. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. An oversample of Catholics was interviewed, for a total of 580 interviews. The results were then weighted in proportion to the adult population. The margin of error for the sample of Catholics is four points. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.