75 percent of Americans surveyed read Bible passage in last year

Published: 2008-04-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a survey conducted in nine countries in anticipation of the October world Synod of Bishops on the Bible, 75 percent of U.S. residents interviewed said they read a Bible passage in the previous 12 months. In Western and Eastern Europe, the percentage of Bible readers ranged from a low of 20 percent in Spain to a high of 38 percent in Poland. The study, commissioned by the Catholic Biblical Federation, began with 13,000 interviews in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Russia, Spain and Italy in November 2007. The president of the federation, Italian Bishop Vincenzo Paglia of Terni, Narni and Amelia, presented the initial results of the survey April 28 during a Vatican press conference and said a second stage of the survey was being conducted in Argentina, South Africa, the Philippines and Australia. The majority of people in the first nine countries -- including 90 percent of Polish respondents -- said the Bible is an important source of truth, but more than 50 percent of those interviewed in each country said the Bible was difficult to understand.

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