Most French view Pope positively

Published: 11:43PM Thursday September 11, 2008 Source: Reuters

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Just over half of all French have a positive opinion of Pope Benedict, according to a survey published ahead of his visit to Paris and the Lourdes shrine in southwestern France.
   
The survey in Thursday's Le Parisien newspaper said 53% of those polled responded positively to Benedict, with the number rising to 65% among people who identified themselves as Roman Catholics. The Pope arrives in Paris on Friday.
   
Negative views were held by 25% of the total and 19% of the Catholics, it said.
   
Benedict will meet President Nicolas Sarkozy, deliver a major speech on culture and celebrate an open-air Mass in Paris before leaving for Lourdes on Saturday. He will stay at the shrine until Monday.
   
Three-quarters identified the German-born pontiff as conservative and about half of those polled - 47% of the total and 53% of the Catholics - said the cerebral former theology professor was charismatic.
   
Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, the Paris archbishop who will be Benedict's host in the French capital on Friday and Saturday, did not seem to agree in an interview with the newspaper.
   
"For the French, the Pope is still John Paul II," he said, referring to Benedict's famous predecessor who died in 2005. "John Paul was Pope for 27 years. He came to France every two or three years.
   
"It has to do with the two men's personalities," Vingt-Trois said. "Benedict is not a man for the crowds. He's a very private person."

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