It's an interesting question.
Certainly his media presence is very high and he's popular in general, but there are some figures that suggest he might not be that popular with actual practicing Catholics.
New figures published by the Vatican show that the 79-year-old Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who won election to the papacy in 2013 and rode a groundswell of public support for what were seen as relatively modern views, is drawing smaller crowds and possibly alienating the base of traditional Catholics.
In 2015, more than 3.2 million pilgrims visited and attended papal events, liturgies or prayer services at the Holy See, the Vatican said at the end of December. That was a sharp drop from the 5.9 million visitors received by Pope Francis in 2014. And it was less than half of the 6.6 million pilgrims who visited the Vatican during the first nine-and-a-half months of his pontificate in 2013.
Liberal religious leaders often have a media presence that overlooks the fact that they're not drawing in committed parishioners. They're always on television, they have book deals and general approval, but people aren't sticking around. That may be what we're seeing here.
But the study also showed that the Pope’s traditional surge in popularity after a visit to a country did not materialize this time. Straight after his American tour, favorable views of the Francis reached 81 percent among Catholics and 68 percent in the general public. When Ratzinger visited in 2008 he scored higher among Catholics (83 percent) and lower in the general public (61 percent).
That’s not to say the the American reaction was cold, Allen said. The Pew data “also found that Francis overall has an almost 70 percent favorability rating in the States, which, when you compare it to politicians — for instance, Obama — is terrific.”
But general popularity doesn't build up a religious institution. General popularity is nice, but it's not a substitute for committed parishioners.