Welcoming Pope Benedict
He will find a more spiritual nation

We might think the United States has become a nation with little religious faith. If we judge solely by what we see, hear, and read in the secular media, we might think few Americans believe in God or go to church.

	Editor's View Mary C. Uhler

And we might think the Catholic Church has few friends outside its walls. After all, the comics on late-night talk shows seem to love ridiculing the Catholic Church, don't they?

Yet a new national survey reveals just the opposite. The survey reported in a Catholic News Service article found that Americans are interested in hearing how God, religion, and spirituality may be incorporated into their daily lives. The Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI in particular also garnered high marks in this survey.

	Related articles: • U.S. awaits arrival of Pope Benedict XVI • Bishop Morlino's message welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to U.S.

Favorable opinion of Church and pope

Conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the survey revealed that 65 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Catholic Church, while only 28 percent have an unfavorable view.

Americans also like Pope Benedict by a ratio of more than four to one. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said they view him favorably, while only 13 percent have an unfavorable opinion. Seventeen percent have never heard of Pope Benedict (I guess we still have some work to do).

Carl Anderson, head of the Knights of Columbus in the United States, reported on the results of the survey commissioned by the Knights on March 25. Anderson said, "The bottom line is despite very negative stories about the Church and the pope" over the last few years, the American people have a very balanced view of Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church and "they are very open to hear his views on how they might live out their faith."

The man Americans will meet

Before he became pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had an image as a tough enforcer of Catholic doctrine. Those who knew him in those days were aware that he was also a warm and kind man, an incisive thinker, and a skilled and thoughtful theologian. This is the man Americans will meet in his April visit to the United States.

"He is deeply concerned about the future of the world and has a carefully thought-out worldview on how the Church relates to the world and how the Church can set out to change the world," Anderson noted.

It is no accident that his first encyclical (Deus Caritas Est) was on love. We all need love and the Holy Father reminds us that God indeed loves each one of us. We, in turn, must love each other and hopefully change the culture to reflect the highest values of our faith.

Let us pray that Pope Benedict XVI will find a nation open to his message of love and hope, a nation eager to be fed spiritually by the successor of Peter.

Reasons for Holy Father's visit

As a footnote, some have questioned why the Holy Father is visiting the United States during an election year. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago pointed out recently that the pope is coming primarily to address the United Nations. The pope is also acknowledging the bicentennials of four archdioceses: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Louisville, Ky.

The Catholic Church has deep roots in the United States and it seems that people today are increasingly open to hearing its message.

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