VATICAN CITY, April 5 (UPI) -- The selection of a successor to Pope John Paul II highlights a growing chasm between North American and European Catholics and Third World Catholics.
The faithful in Latin America, Africa and Asia welcomed John Paul's defense of historic Christian positions on abortion, homosexuality and marriage, the International Herald Tribune said Tuesday.
Indeed, two-thirds of Catholics now come from the Third World and presumably they and their cardinal electors will seek similar doctrinal fidelity from any papal candidate.
But the commitment of Catholics in Europe and North America to orthodox theology, as well as weekly attendance at church, has been declining for decades.
A Gallup poll indicates the share of Catholics who say they've attended church in the past week has fallen dramatically, from 74 percent in 1955 to 45 percent last year, ABC News reported.
And a U.S. poll last November indicated 17 percent of Catholic voters listed as their top issue "moral values," code for opposition to abortion, homosexuality related issues.
That 17 percent contrasts to the 41 percent of evangelical Protestants and 28 percent of all non-Catholic Christians who named "moral values" as their top issue.
