The Pope won’t like what this poll found about British Catholics
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The majority of strong Catholics in the UK don’t oppose same-sex marriage – despite a continuing hardline stance from the Catholic Church.
The finding comes from a YouGov analysis, looking at sample of self-identified Catholics and Protestants who “strongly” believe their faith is important to them.
It found that the continued fire-and-brimstone approach to equal marriage in the Catholic Church – with equal marriage branded a “defeat for humanity” – were no longer in line with the beliefs of everyday Catholics.
Despite a ‘gay friendly’ PR blitz, the current Pope has if anything ramped up the Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage – personally hosting the leaders of listed anti-LGBT hate groups at a ‘traditional marriage’ conference last year, and claiming gay marriage “disfigures God’s creation”.
But the poll this week found that in the UK, 50 percent of Catholics who rank their faith as extremely important now actually support same-sex marriage – with just 40 percent opposed.
The opposition is still far higher than in the British general population – general support is at 66 percent with just 22 percent opposed – but is in line with other religious groups.
Indeed, Protestants are now more extensively split on the issue than Catholics – with 45 percent of Protestants who rank their faith as extremely important in favour, and 47 percent against.
There are continuing rifts over same-sex marriage in the Church of England, with some gay clergy persecuted for marrying their partners.
It was recently revealed that the US anti-gay marriage group National Organisation for Marriage had been secretly funded by a number of Catholic donors, after a court ordered it to publish a donor list.
Catholic groups also campaigned against same-sex marriage in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.