WASHINGTON, D.C. — The pedophilia scandal that has consumed the Roman Catholic Church has damaged the credibility of church bishops, but the vast majority of U.S. Catholics say they intend to stay in the church, according to a poll released March 21.
The credibility gap is evident even among the most devout Catholics — 56 percent of those who attend daily Mass say the bishops have done a bad job in handling the sex scandal, according to the joint Le Moyne College/Zogby International poll.
The portion of all Catholics who say the bishops are doing a good job shepherding the church fell from 84 percent last October to 68 percent today.
In response to another question, 74 percent of Catholics say the church has done a “fair” or “poor” job handling the issue.
Those findings mirror a similar poll released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. That poll found that 49 percent of the most active Catholics (and 62 percent of all Catholics) said the bishops had tried to “cover up” the pedophile problem.
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