The Catholic church has commissioned a series of polls to assess the impact of the 2010 visit of the Holy Father to Great Britain. Like any statistical research there is the possibility that you can squeeze any conclusion you choose out of the results. The Catholic Communications Network has naturally published a press release pointing out the most positive conclusions of the poll. There is still a general consensus that religion, spirituality and morals have a place in our society. However the less favourable results should challenge us:- only 52% of Catholics agree that true happiness is found in God, 59% of Catholics feel the church is out of touch with society and only 28% of the non Catholic population think the Catholic Church is a force for good.
On the visit itself the results were bemusing, although 50% of Catholics recall that the Pope visited, no individual event of importance was specifically recalled by more than 2% of Catholics.
For those who love reading statistical data the reports can be found at the Opinion Research Business website.