A lot of U.S. Catholics are thinking about leaving the Church, a new poll shows

In 2002, Gallup polled Catholics in the United States about their response to the Boston Globe's shattering report on widespread clerical sexual abuse in the Boston area. Back then, 22 percent of those polled said that the scandals made them question whether they wanted to remain part of the Catholic Church.

17 years later, amid a new crop of recent, global allegations of continued abuse and subsequent cover-ups by some of the highest authorities in the Vatican, Gallup conducted a similar survey. This time, the number of Catholics questioning their commitment to the Church following the revelations rose 15 points to 37 percent. Still, only 22 percent of Catholics who attend mass on a weekly basis say they would consider leaving, while 37 percent of those who attend monthly and 46 percent who attend rarely or not at all said the same thing.

Gallup notes, however, that considering leaving is not the same thing as actually leaving and that some of those who responded that they were considering it may simply have been expressing their frustration with the Church's response to the abuse crisis without actually having any intention of abandoning the pews forever.

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"As an indication of frustration, it seems like a pretty significant step,” Jeff Jones, Gallup Poll senior editor, told The Washington Post. "Leaving is another one, and we don't have good data on that. But it does give a sense of the impact [the scandal] is having. And that the impact is greater than it was in 2002."

Despite the personal conscience pendulums swinging more rapidly, American Catholics do still view their local priests and Pope Francis favorably — more than 80 percent of responders said they trusted both at least somewhat, including more than 40 percent who said that they trusted them "a great deal."

The poll was taken among 581 U.S. Catholics from Jan. 21-27 and Feb. 12-28 via phone interviews with a 5 percent margin of error. Take a look at the poll at Gallup.