Though few things about the meeting of two religious leaders are known to Russians, they think that such meetings are important and should be continued.
MOSCOW, March 9, 2016. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the results of the survey describing the attitudes of Russians towards the meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis; whether Russians think that the relationships should be further developed.
Two-thirds of Russians are aware of the historical meeting of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church (67%). According to Russians, this meeting was the first in the thousand- year period (4%) marking the churches’ unification (4%) accompanied by declarations on peace (2%), efforts to protect Christians against prosecution (2%), and other agreements (2%). Many (47%) find it hard to precise anything about this meeting.
Russians generally support the idea to conduct similar meeting in the future: 66% think it is necessary. The share of Orthodox Christians is bigger (71%) than the followers of other religions (54%). This idea is also shared by elderly respondents (82%), rather than the young ones (55%). Importantly, threats to peaceful co-existence (war, terrorism) cannot be eliminated without mutual efforts of leaders of both churches.
As to perspectives of churches' rapprochement, respondents have a moderately positive point of view. Sixty-two percent believe that the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches should develop cooperation staying autonomous at the same time (68% of the Orthodox Christians agree with that; 39% - followers of other religions). The radical stances are least popular: 10% support the full unification of churches; 8% refuse to come closer.
According to Medialogia Company analysis, a total number of 8.5 thousand mentions devoted to the meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill were found in the Russian media in February 2016. The media reported on the preparation of this meeting, its results and importance for the religious world.
The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on February 20-21, 2016. A total of 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 settlements in 46 regions and republics of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.5%. Russian media monitoring and analysis were carried out by the Medialogia Company using approximately 30300 sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines. Period of study: February 2016.
Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic church, and Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, has recently met in Cuba. Did you hear about this meeting, or not? If yes, what is it famous for? (open-ended question, any number of answers, %) | |
| Total respondents |
Rapprochement / reunification of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians / unification of churches | 4 |
First meeting over 1000 years/ historical event | 4 |
Signing of the declaration / achievement og the agreements | 2 |
Striving for keeping peace on Earth | 2 |
Protecting the Christians against persecution in the East /all around the world | 2 |
Fighting against terrorism/ ISIL/ crime | 1 |
Goodwill of both leaders / friendly meeting | 1 |
Strengthening relationships, cooperation between the Catholics and the Orthodox Christians | 1 |
We have been waiting for this moment for so long | 1 |
Other | 3 |
This is the first time I hear of that | 33 |
I heard of this meeting but I do not know what it was about | 47 |
Refusal to answers | 1 |
In your opinion, should such meetings be continued in the future or not? (close-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||
| Total respondents | Orthodox | Other confessions | Non-believers |
Definitely yes | 32 | 35 | 23 | 18 |
Rather yes | 34 | 36 | 31 | 34 |
Rather not | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
Definitely not | 5 | 4 | 8 | 9 |
Refusal | 2 | 17 | 26 | 30 |
Don’t know | 20 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
Are there any problems in the world that cannot be solved without mutual efforts of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches? (open-ended question, any number of answers, %) | |
| Total respondents |
Terrorism / fighting against ISIL / radical islamists | 7 |
Peace on Earth | 4 |
Military conflict in Syria / Ukraine / Middle East | 3 |
Spiritual development of people / youth, tolerance | 2 |
Christians’ unity | 2 |
International problems | 2 |
Protecting the Christians against prosecution | 1 |
Confessional interactions | 1 |
Problem of sexual minorities / same-sex marriage | 1 |
Inter-religious fight | 1 |
Other | 3 |
There are certain problems | 4 |
No problems | 33 |
Don’t know | 41 |
Refusal to answer | 2 |
In your opinion, what kind of relationships should be between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church? (close-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||
| Total respondents | Orthodox | Other confessions | Non-believers |
They should not cooperate or come closer; they are incompatible and should stay the way they are | 8 | 8 | 5 | 9 |
They should come closer, develop relationships but remaining separate as it is now | 62 | 68 | 39 | 46 |
They should be united, as it was before the churches’ split one thousand years ago | 10 | 9 | 13 | 10 |
Refusal to answer | 2 | 14 | 37 | 29 |
Don’t know | 18 | 1 | 6 | 6 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory. Full or partial reproduction of the Medialogia Company materials in other media must contain a reference to the Medialogia Company.