"We oppose this rule that we believe is unlawful and inhumane. Countless children will be harmed by this new rule and this is simply not acceptable."

Pew explains, “just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.’”

Reacting to the scandal of clergy sex abuse and cover-up 17 years ago, eight bishops offered a bold proposal to convene a regional synod for the church in the United States.

U.S. church reforms adopted in the early 2000s have contributed to a dramatic decline in cases of child abuse by clergy. The San Diego Diocese has not had a confirmed incident of sexual abuse of a minor by any of its priests in the past 20 years, records show.

Among the dozens of priests named in new lawsuits is at least one bishop, the Most Rev. Howard Hubbard, who led the Diocese of Albany from 1977 to 2014. He is accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a 16-year-old in the 1990s.

According to the survey, which was released Aug. 13, 54 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 40 percent believe it should be illegal in most or all cases—numbers essentially unchanged since 2014.