A baseball fan takes a photo with a mural of Pope Leo XIV before a White Sox game at Chicago’s Rate Field on May 25, 2025. (Ben Hsu/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

About eight-in-ten U.S. Catholics (78%) have a favorable view of Pope Leo XIV, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. That’s down slightly from summer 2025, when 84% of U.S. Catholics expressed a favorable opinion of the American-born pope.

The share of Catholics who have a positive view of Leo today is similar to the share who had a favorable view of his predecessor, Pope Francis, during the last years of Francis’ pontificate.

About this research

This Pew Research Center analysis explores U.S. Catholics’ views of Pope Leo XIV and how Leo and U.S. President Donald Trump approach each other.

Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center conducts high-quality research to inform the public, journalists and leaders. Studying U.S. Catholics’ views of the pope is a key part of the Center’s long-standing research.

Learn more about Pew Research Center and our religion research.

How did we do this?

This analysis includes findings from a survey of 9,750 U.S. adults who are part of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), including 1,848 Catholics. The survey was conducted May 26-June 1, 2026. It has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points for results based on the full sample of Catholic respondents.

Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses and the survey methodology.

The survey was conducted from May 26 to June 1, in the wake of public tension between Leo and President Donald Trump over the conflict in Iran and other matters. In April, Leo spoke out against war and blamed it on unnamed leaders having a “delusion of omnipotence.” Trump criticized Leo on social media, saying the pope was “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

When asked about Pope Leo’s approach to the Trump administration, U.S. Catholics are split. While 19% say Leo has been too critical of the Trump administration, 16% say he hasn’t been critical enough. Another 35% say Leo is striking the right balance, and 30% say they are not sure, have no opinion or have never heard of Leo.

By contrast, when asked about Trump’s approach to Pope Leo, far more Catholics say Trump has been too critical of Leo (51%) than say he hasn’t been critical enough (4%) or is striking the right balance (14%).

Most Catholics, regardless of religiousness or demographics, view Pope Leo favorably

Many U.S. Catholics have a positive view of Pope Leo, including those who regularly go to Mass and those who seldom or never do. Among those who attend Mass at least weekly, 85% view Leo favorably. That compares with 79% of Catholics who go to Mass once or twice a month or a few times a year, and 73% of Catholics who rarely or never go.

Large majorities of both White and Hispanic Catholics and both Catholic men and women also view Leo favorably. The survey did not have enough Black or Asian Catholics to report their views separately.

Differences between Catholic Republicans and Democrats

Most Catholics in both partisan coalitions have positive views of Pope Leo. But Catholic Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party express somewhat more favorable views of Leo than Catholic Republicans and Republican leaners do.

We found a similar pattern during the latter years of Francis’ pontificate.

(In recent years, Catholics have been relatively evenly divided between the two parties. In the new survey, 51% of Catholic respondents identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 45% identify with or lean toward the GOP.)

The new survey also shows that far more Catholic Democrats say Trump has been too critical of Pope Leo than say Leo has been too critical of Trump (70% vs. 3%).

Catholic Republicans are more divided. About a third (32%) say Trump has been too critical of Pope Leo. And 39% say Leo has been too critical of Trump.

We can also combine people’s answers to these questions to gauge their views of both Leo and Trump. The balance of opinion among Catholic Democrats is fairly one-sided: 68% say Trump has been too critical of Leo but that Leo hasn’t been overly critical of Trump.

Catholic Republicans are again more divided:

• 28% say Leo has been too critical of Trump but Trump hasn’t been too critical of Leo.
• 21% say Trump has been too critical of Leo but Leo hasn’t been too critical of Trump.
• 11% say both Trump and Leo have been too critical of the other.
• 40% say neither Trump nor Leo has been too critical of the other or did not answer the questions.

Related: Catholics in Latin America generally have positive views of Pope Leo

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses and the survey methodology.

Gregory A. Smith is a senior associate director of research at Pew Research Center.