US: In the US presidential election, only one out of two Catholics will vote for the first Catholic presidential candidate since John F Kennedy received the support of four out of every five of his fellow Catholics in 1960, according to a new poll.
The poll comes as the 250 American Catholic Bishops meet this week in Denver, Colorado, to discuss among other matters whether Communion should be refused to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.
Where JFK's problem was convincing non-Catholics he would not take Church dictates, the Democratic candidate in 2004, John F Kerry, is opposed by many devout Catholics for not taking orders from the Church.
With 60 million Catholics in the US, how they vote in a contest between a faith-based conservative Republican president and a liberal Democratic challenger could determine the outcome of this year's election.
The poll in Time magazine shows that 70 per cent of Catholic voters think the Catholic Church should not be trying to influence their vote and 73 per cent say Mr Kerry should not be denied Communion.
However, one in eight Catholics said that they were less likely to vote for Mr Kerry because of criticism by Archbishop Raymond Burke of Missouri of the Democratic candidate over his stand on abortion.
Five of the 250 bishops said they would refuse communion to Mr Kerry, a weekly communicant. One Church leader, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado, has even suggested that Catholics who vote for Mr Kerry should stay away from the sacrament.
This position is dismissed as extreme by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington who said that he had not "gotten comfortable" with the idea of turning anyone away from the altar.
The Catholic bishops are coming under pressure to deny Communion to pro-life Catholic politicians from groups like the American Life League, which yesterday ran an advertisement in US newspapers saying, "This Sunday, 500 pro-abortion Catholic politicians will be allowed to receive the holy Eucharist" because most Catholic bishops do not "enforce church law".
Mr Kerry said he would not be pressured by religious appeals, adding, "I'm running for president and I'm running to uphold the constitution of our country, which has a strict separation of the affairs of church and state."
The Catholic vote is crucial in key constituencies such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Catholics are split down the middle: 45 per cent support Senator Kerry and 43 per cent President George Bush. But among religious Catholic voters Bush has a 23 per cent lead.
Since the election victory of John F Kennedy 44 years ago, Catholics have entered political alliances with evangelical Protestants and President Bush has championed the campaigns of conservative Christians against abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research.
This drew veiled criticism of Mr Bush from Ron Reagan Jr at the funeral last week of former president Ronald Reagan. His father he said, though religious, never wore his faith on his sleeve "for political advantage".
Asked about the remark on Tuesday, Mr Bush responded that, "I think it is very important for people who are serving to make sure there is a separation of church and state" and "I'm very mindful about saying, you know, vote for me, I'm more religious than my neighbour."
Mr Reagan's comments are believed to have been directed specifically against Bush's opposition to expanding stem cell research that could lead to cures for diseases like Alzheimer's, from which Ronald Reagan suffered.
On his recent visit to Rome, Mr Bush asked the Vatican to push American bishops to become more actively involved in promoting their conservative social agenda, according to a church official quoted by CNN.
"That's entirely and extraordinarily inappropriate, and I think it speaks for itself," said Mr Kerry.
Religion overall will play a critical role in the election. In the Time poll, 28 per cent of likely voters said that it was "very important" that the presidential candidate be a religious person.