The newspaper “Folha de S.Paulo” released this last Sunday (24) a new survey by the Datafolha institute. The objective was to hear the opinion of Brazilians on the election of Pope Francis, as well as on the positions of the Catholic Church.
The survey was carried out on March 20 and 21, a week after the conclave that elected Pope Jorge Bergoglio. The margin of error is two percentage points. 2.653 people were interviewed in 166 municipalities. Of these, the majority, 58%, defined themselves as Catholic. Another 21% said they were Pentecostal evangelicals.
Bergoglio's election was considered excellent or good by 74% of people interviewed by the institute and regular by 9%; only 2% of those interviewed thought it was bad or terrible. 57% of them agree with the Catholic Church's position of not approving same-sex marriage. The same goes for abortion, with 54% approving the Church's opposing position.
Meanwhile, when issues that affect the majority of society are addressed, the Brazilian population goes against the Church's opinions.
For 83% of those interviewed, Pope Francis should guide the church to take a stand in favor of the use of condoms; 77% advocate doing the same in relation to the contraceptive pill and 61% are in favor of women using the morning-after pill. And 58% say the Church should become pro-divorce.
The data shows that unfortunately the majority of Brazilian society still cannot see everyone, focusing only on their own interests and forgetting the rights of minorities.
