Poll: Latin Americans view Pope Francis favorably. But the biggest drop is in his native Argentina.

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Louise Thomas

Editor

Pope Francis is still widely popular in several Latin American countries. But the portion of people who still see him favorably in his native Argentina has plunged by almost 30 percentage points in a decade.

Those are among the key findings in a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center titled: “How People in Latin America and the U.S. view Pope Francis.” The poll surveyed 6,234 adults last year in six Latin American countries that are among the region's most populous.

The poll found that attitudes toward the pope — in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru —are still broadly positive although overall less positive than they were a decade ago.

The biggest drop in favorable attitudes was recorded in the pope's Argentina.

A decade ago, 91% of Argentines said that they had a positive opinion of Francis. That number has dropped to an estimated 64% today.

When then-Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis, much of his home country celebrated it like a World Cup soccer championship. A decade later, the first Latin American leader of the Catholic Church generates divided opinions and much less fervor.

Francis clashed with some of Argentina’s top leaders when he oversaw the Argentine church and has not returned since he left Argentina in February 2013 to attend the conclave that elected him as the successor to Benedict XVI on March 13.

Analysts and Vatican insiders have said that the pope is trying to avoid being drawn into the political polarization that has divided Argentines over decades.

But the pope said earlier this year that he’ll visit his native Argentina in the latter part of 2024. It would be the first time in his nearly 11-year-old papacy and while his fellow Argentines are suffering economically from a rising poverty rate and one of the world's highest inflation rates.

The poll also found that:

-In Brazil and Mexico, 68% of adults have a favorable opinion of the pope.

-In Colombia 72% share this opinion compared to 83% of adults in late 2013.

-In Chile only about half of adults there have a positive view of Francis.

The favorable impression of Francis among U.S. adults reached high points between 2015 and 2017 when seven-in-ten Americans viewed him positively. Today, 57% of U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of the pope.

The poll found that U.S., Catholics (75%) are more likely than Protestants (51%) or the religiously unaffiliated (56%) to have positive views of Francis today.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.