A year into his papacy an Angus Reid-Global survey of more than 1,500 Canadians found 59 per cent have a positive view of the new Pope, but that rises to 90 per cent among practising Catholics.

The province with the highest opinion of Pope Francis is Quebec at 64 per cent.

More than half of Canada’s non-Catholics like what the Pope is doing and saying.

Two-thirds (67 per cent) of Canadians believe the new Pope’s influence on the Catholic Church has been positive. A solid 37 per cent say Francis has improved their view of the Catholic Church.

The positives turn negative on the issue of sexual abuse. More than two in five Canadians (42 per cent) said Pope Francis hasn’t done enough, though that figure drops to 32 per cent among practising Catholics. Only 22 per cent say he’s done enough. A much larger 36 per cent say they aren’t sure.

All the positive feelings about Francis won’t magically usher lapsed Catholics in the front door of your parish. Only 14 per cent of non-practising Catholics say they are likely to even consider coming back.

Canadian opinions about Pope Francis are measurably more positive than they are in England or the United States. Americans share Canada’s overall positive view of the Pope at 60 per cent, but in the United Kingdom only 36 per cent have a positive view. In the U.K. the gap between practising Catholics and non-Catholics is huge. Almost all practising Catholics (92 per cent) see the Pope positively, compared to 31 per cent of non-Catholics.

More than half of Americans approve of the Pope’s de-emphasis of reproduction and homosexuality issues. But the 56 per cent of Americans who like the shift away from sexual morality and abortion is low compared to the 69 per cent of Canadians who like the new direction. Where in the United States there’s a big gap between Catholic and non-Catholic opinion on the issue (53 per cent of non-Catholic Americans approve, compared to 70 per cent of practising Catholics), in Canada Catholic and non-Catholic opinion is roughly the same.