Three-quarters of American Roman Catholics think the Church has been too lenient in dealing with priests who sexually abuse children, and a majority consider it to be a serious problem, according to a Newsweekpoll.
Amid an escalating wave of sex scandals involving US Catholic clerics, a majority of Americans, both Catholic and non-Catholic, say they are in favor of allowing priests to marry - which half think would help reduce the problem.
Earlier this week, Pope John Paul II broke his silence on the scandal of pedophile priests, which developed after a Boston priest was convicted in January of molesting a 10-yearold boy. The pope said Catholic priests who abuse children were carrying out the worst form of evil.
The Boston priest, Fr John Geoghan, who was accused of molesting more than 130 children over 30 years, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Since then, the sex abuse scandal has spread across the country, with more cases emerging in California, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.
The Newsweek poll showed 77 percent of those polled, and 74 percent of Catholics, felt the Church had been too lenient in dealing with priests who sexually abuse children.
The scandal has touched two of the most senior cardinals, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston and Cardinal Edward Egan of New York, who have been accused by critics of mishandling abuse cases.
Sixty-four percent of American Catholics were also in favor of allowing women priests.