Paris, France - A newspaper poll shows Pope Benedict XVI's popularity has plunged in heavily Roman Catholic France.
Le Parisien daily says its survey found 57% of respondents have a negative opinion of the pontiff. That's up from only 25% in a similar poll shortly before his visit to France last September.
Twenty-three percent expressed a positive opinion, down from 53% six months ago. The remainder had no opinion.
The survey of 1,012 adults was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, and published Saturday. It gave no margin of error.
The pope drew criticism from some Western governments for saying Tuesday during a flight to Africa that condoms were not the answer to the continent's AIDS epidemic, suggesting that sexual behavior was the issue.