A liberal Catholic group is welcoming the findings of two new polls that have revealed most Catholics disagree with what the church teaches them about contraception, divorce and abortion. However, a pro-life organisation has described the results of one of the polls as 'unreliable', accusing the US TV station behind it of not questioning 'practising' Catholics. The research, which was commissioned by the Spanish-language network Univision, found that just 5% of French Catholics oppose abortion in all cases, while 73% of Philippino Catholics and 64% of Ugandan Catholics are always opposed to abortion.
And while only 12% of Italians agree with the church doctrine, "An individual who has divorced and remarried outside of the Catholic Church, is living in sin which prevents them from receiving Communion", 78% of Ugandans agree with it. Simon Bryden-Brook from Catholic Voices for Reform told Premier why he isn't surprised by the research:
The poll of more than 12,000 Catholics in 12 countries reveals a church dramatically divided. On one side the developing world in Africa and Asia, which draws closely to doctrine on these issues, and Western countries in Europe, North America and parts of Latin America, which strongly support practices that the church teaches are immoral. Nine percent of Catholics in the European countries and 30% in the Latin American countries surveyed agree with church teaching that divorcees who remarry outside the church should not receive Communion, compared with 75% in the most Catholic African countries.
It also found 30% of Catholics in the European countries and 36%in the United States agree with the church ban on female priests, compared with 80% in Africa and 76% in the Philippines, the country with the largest Catholic population in Asia.
In total, nearly one in ten feel abortion should be allowed in all cases with a further 57% supporting it in some cases where a mother's life is at risk.
Anthony Ozimic from the pro-life group Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child told Premier's Marcus Jones on the News Hour why he's not convinced by the figures:
Meanwhile, several other surveys commissioned by the Vatican show that the vast majority of Catholics in Germany and Switzerland reject church teaching on contraception, sexual morality, gay unions and divorce.
It's understood the release of the details from both countries has not been authorised by the Holy See and results from the survey currently being carried out by the Catholic Church in England and Wales are not expected to be made public here. The Vatican took the unusual step of commissioning the surveys ahead of a major meeting of bishops that Pope Francis has called for October to discuss family issues.
The poll was sent last year to every national conference of bishops with a request to share it widely among Catholic institutions, parishes and individuals.