WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A majority of U.S. Catholics believe the pedophilia scandal in the Roman Catholic Church is a crisis and many are angry at the way the church has handled the issue, according to a Washington Post/ABC News/Beliefnet poll released on Wednesday.
Some 71 percent of Catholics say the scandal is a crisis for the church and an equal number say it is a major problem that demands immediate attention, the poll said.
The survey of more than 1,000 adults found that among all Americans, 74 percent said church officials have tried to cover up the problem of priests who sexually abuse children. Two-thirds of Catholic respondents expressed the same view.
Nearly eight in 10 Catholics polled said failure of the church to notify police of such charges is a major part of the problem. Eighty-four percent said they strongly disapprove of the practice of transferring accused priests to other parishes.
Dioceses in Boston, Maine, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire have all removed priests since the trial earlier this year of now-defrocked Boston priest John Geoghan. He is serving a prison sentence for molesting a child and has been accused of similar actions by about 130 other people.
Court documents say Boston Cardinal Bernard Law and five other church leaders knew of Geoghan's problems but continued to move him from parish to parish.
According to the poll, 36 percent of Catholics say they are angry at the way the church has handled this issue, while another 34 percent said they were dissatisfied with the response from church officials.
Eighty percent of Catholics and non-Catholics alike said the church should be required by law to report abuse allegations to police. Sixty percent of Catholic respondents also said the church should be legally required to inform parishioners of accusations against priests.
The poll of 1,086 adults, including 503 Catholics, was conducted March 25-28 and has a 3.5 percentage point margin of error for the full sample and a 4.5 percentage point margin error for Catholics.