Just under half of the public has a favorable view of America's Roman Catholic Church in a new poll, a significant drop from February, as the church struggles with the scandal over child sex abuse by priests.
The ABC News poll released Tuesday says 47 percent of the public has a favorable view of the Catholic church, down from 63 percent in February. Among Catholics, seven in 10 had a favorable view, down from nine in 10 in February.
Roman Catholic bishops are meeting in Dallas this week and plan to issue a national policy to reform the church's handling of child abuse allegations.
The poll of 1,004 adults was taken Friday through Sunday and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points, larger for subgroups like Catholics.
Among the poll's other findings:
_A fifth of those polled, 22 percent, approve of the way the church is handling the issue, while three-fourths disapproved. A third of Catholics approved.
_Four in five, of the overall public and Catholics, said a priest who has sexually abused one adolescent child should be automatically removed from the priesthood. Some church officials have recommended a policy that's slightly more lenient.
_Almost nine in 10 said the practice of not calling the police when a priest is accused of abuse has been a major part of the problem.
_More than three-fourths said church policy of not allowing priests to a marry is part of the problem, with half saying it is a major contributor. An equal number pointed to inadequate screening and preparation of priests.