Will Pope Francis Boost Church Attendance In The US And Europe?
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The Catholic Church might be growing in Latin America, Asia and Africa, but in the United States and Europe, attendance has been lagging for the past few decades. When Pope Benedict XVI was first elected, there was hope he could reignite the passion for religion many have slowly lost. Unfortunately, that never proved to be the case. In fact, an argument could be made that he attracted more negative than positive headlines during his tenure by moving the Church to a move conservative stance on certain issues and not doing more to prosecute priests who covered up crimes being committed against children.
With today’s election of Pope Francis, however, there is serious optimism for the first time in years. There’s legitimate hope that a new face at the top of the food chain may coax wayward believers back into the fold. There’s hope Pope Francis may push the Church toward acts of service and away from the judgmental viewpoints that have driven some away.
What do you think? Will Pope Francis be able to turn things around for the Western World, or will the slow exodus away from the Church only continue on the seventy-six-year-old’s watch? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…
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Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.
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