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Survey finds Papal Visit united UK churches


Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict

Results of a new survey suggest that the different Christian denominations in the UK were brought closer together by the visit of Pope Benedict last September.

The study, which was commissioned by Premier Media Group, sampled Christians across all denominations. It found that 63% of Christians, of all denominations, felt the Pope's recent visit was a triumph and highlighted surprising support from the under 35s, with nearly two thirds agreeing on the Papal accomplishment.

During his historic visit, which was the first State Visit by a Pope to England and Scotland. the Holy Father confronted his critics by standing up for Christianity and challenging the growth of secularism. He called for the restoration of Christian spiritual and moral values in British public life, and expressed his sorrow at the child sex scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church.

The survey found that 64% of Christians agreed that the Pope correctly addressed serious problems facing society. Even though a little over half (53%)of those polled were of the opinion that the Pope only represented Roman Catholics, nearly two thirds (57%) felt that the Pope's visit was relevant to them, impacting on the Pope's appeal across the denominations.

Only a third (27%) of all Christians didn't have an opinion either way on the success of the visit, with most of the apathy coming mainly from the middle aged (34 - 44 years and 45 - 54 years).

A separate survey carried out by Premier Media Group at the same time found that the general public where spilt down the middle on the outcome. Surprisingly, most were completely uninterested by the Papal visit with 39% not being bothered either way by its success. A further 40% couldn't give an opinion, either way, on if the Pope had addressed serious problems facing society.

Peter Kerridge, CEO of Premier Media Group said: "From the off, it has always been the deep desire of Premier Christian Radio to be used by God as a strong Christian voice across the United Kingdom. So, even after the initial negative media coverage on the Papal visit, it's heart-warming to see Christians of all denominations coming together to support Pope Benedict XVI's integrity and courage as he addressed key issues in British Christian life."

ComRes surveyed 600 UK Christians on Cpanel between 17th November and 10th December 2010 by online questionnaire. Data were weighted by denomination to reflect the composition of the UK Christian population according to the 2005 Church Census. ComRes also interviewed 2017 GB adults online between 15th and 16th December 2010. Data were weighted to be representative demographically of all GB adults.

Full data tables may be found at www.comres.co.uk. For more information on Premier Christian Radio see: www.premier.org.uk/

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