Pope Francis urged to tackle controversial topics during visit

MANILA, Philippines - About a quarter of Filipino Catholics want to hear what Pope Francis has to say on divorce and same sex marriage when he visits the country in January next year, according to a survey conducted by the Church-run Radio Veritas.

Dubbed as “Truth Survey,” it showed that 24 percent of Catholics here would like the pope to tackle these controversial issues.

The issues came in second among eight topics of concern raised by 1,200 respondents to the survey.

The survey was conducted from July to September, when the public was exposed to reports of the legalization of same sex marriage in the United States.

Filipino Catholics are also interested in the Pope’s stance on spirituality and youth. Twenty-six percent of them would want to hear him speak on catechism and the role of the laity, while 24 percent said they want to get his views on sex education and child labor.

“The combined percentage for these top three concerns cover at least 70 percent of the total share of all issues the respondents wanted to hear the pope preach about,” according to results of the survey made public by the Archdiocese of Manila in a press conference yesterday.

“Most of the respondents want to hear the Holy Father speak on matters of faith and how it may relate to their families and the youth,” the survey added.

Health, such as abortion and contraception (10 percent); politics, including separation of Church and State and corruption (9 percent); economics, such as land reform (5 percent); environment, including mining and logging (3 percent); and society, including migration and death penalty (3 percent) were the other issues raised by Filipino Catholics in the survey.

Radio Veritas consultant Clifford Sorita said a copy of the survey results would be submitted to Vatican officials in charge of the papal visit.