Most Catholics say religion has a positive influence on American life, poll shows
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A pilgrim prays the rosary at a Marian vigil in St. Peter's Square, Rome, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 20, 2025 / 17:27 pm (CNA).A poll released by the Pew Research Center found that most Catholics believe religion has a positive influence on life in the United States, and an increasing number of Catholics believe religious influence on everyday life is a growing force.The data, published on Oct. 20, found that 71% of Catholics believe religion has a net positive influence on society, while 10% say it has a net negative influence on society. The other 19% said religion has a net neutral or unclear impact on society.A minority of Catholics believe that religion's impact on society is growing, but that number is much higher than it was in previous polls. The poll compared responses in February 2024 to responses in February 2025.Pew found that in 2025, 27% of Catholics believe religion is gaining influence in American life comp...
A pilgrim prays the rosary at a Marian vigil in St. Peter's Square, Rome, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 20, 2025 / 17:27 pm (CNA).
A poll released by the Pew Research Center found that most Catholics believe religion has a positive influence on life in the United States, and an increasing number of Catholics believe religious influence on everyday life is a growing force.
The data, published on Oct. 20, found that 71% of Catholics believe religion has a net positive influence on society, while 10% say it has a net negative influence on society. The other 19% said religion has a net neutral or unclear impact on society.
A minority of Catholics believe that religion's impact on society is growing, but that number is much higher than it was in previous polls. The poll compared responses in February 2024 to responses in February 2025.
Pew found that in 2025, 27% of Catholics believe religion is gaining influence in American life compared with 73% who said religion is losing influence. This is, however, a strong shift from 2024 when only 15% of Catholics believed religion was gaining influence and 82% believed religion was losing influence.
According to the research, 13% of Catholics said their religious beliefs have a great deal of conflict with mainstream American culture, and 42% said their beliefs have some conflict with mainstream culture. About 45% said there is not much conflict between their religious beliefs and mainstream culture.
The survey also found that 30% of Catholics said loving one's country is essential to being a Christian. It also found that 65% of Catholics said many religions may be true, while only 19% said only one religion is true. About 13% said "there is little truth in any religion."
Influence on U.S. society
According to the Pew survey, the broader American public also has a positive view on religion's impact on society. About 59% said religion has a net positive impact on society, while 20% said it had a net negative view, and about 21% said religion has a net neutral or unclear impact on society.
Pew also found that 31% of the broader American public believes religion is gaining influence on society and 68% said it is losing influence in 2025. This is also a shift from 2024, when only 18% said religion was gaining influence and 80% said it was losing influence.
The poll also found a political divide surrounding the public's views about whether the influence of religion is positive. About 78% of Republicans believe religion has a net positive impact on society, compared with just 40% of Democrats who said the same.
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Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, meets with reporters in Baltimore on Nov. 15, 2022. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 21, 2025 / 13:37 pm (CNA).The U.S. Army is reexamining canceled religious contracts after Archbishop for the Military Services, USA, Timothy Broglio lamented that cuts strained Catholic ministry to the armed forces.Broglio criticized the cancellations of chapel contracts for religious educators, administrators, and musicians. He wrote in a letter to Congress that the contracts were essential to assisting Catholic priest chaplains in their duties.A March memorandum by the U.S. Army Installation Management Command directed the cancellation of the chapel contracts, Broglio said. In his Oct. 17 letter, the archbishop wrote that he was assured directors of religious education and religious affairs specialists would "cover down" on the work of contractors, but "that has not happened" and ...
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Cardinal Pietro Parolin speaks at the release of Aid to the Church in Need's "Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025" at the Vatican on Oct. 21, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Iba´n~ez/CNAVatican City, Oct 21, 2025 / 14:07 pm (CNA).Authoritarian regimes are among the main drivers of religious discrimination and persecution in 52 countries, according to an Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) report. The pontifical foundation, alongside Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, released the Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025 at the Vatican on Tuesday, highlighting the need for the Church to bear witness to the millions of people who face threats of persecution and violence.The cardinal decried the "year on year" increase of violations affecting more than 5.4 billion people worldwide at the report's launch and stressed the need for governments to acknowledge religious freedom as an "inalienable right," as asserted by both the Second Vatican Council document Dignitat...
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A view of the Vatican Apostolic Library in 2021. / Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Oct 21, 2025 / 15:56 pm (CNA).Reports circulating in media outlets and on social media in October 2025 allege that the Vatican has opened a prayer room for Muslims in the Apostolic Library.Claim: The Vatican Library has opened a prayer room for Muslims.CNA finds: The library does allow Muslim scholars a room in which to pray while they are on site doing research in the Vatican's extensive archives.Breakdown: In mid-October 2025, sensational news coverage rocketed around internet media outlets and social media feeds: The Vatican is "allow[ing]" a "designated Muslim prayer room" in its Apostolic Library (National Review); the library has "add[ed] a Muslim prayer room" (The Dallas Express); the Vatican has "[set] up [a] dedicated Muslim prayer room at [the] heart of [the] pope's 500-year-old library" (GB News); the Holy See has "open[ed]" a "Muslim prayer room in [the] Apostolic Librar...
