Support for gay marriage is higher among American Catholics than it is in the general population, a new study claims, with one in six Catholics giving the go-ahead to same sex unions. The study comes as Catholics worldwide urge Pope Francis to clarify the Church’s position on marriage. The study, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and funded by the Henry Luce Foundation surveyed 1,331 Americans in early August and found that approximately one in five, a total of 384 people surveyed, were Catholic. When those respondents were asked whether gays and lesbians should have the legal right to marry, 60 per cent of them said yes, against 55 per cent of respondents overall. Almost 53 per cent of Catholics disagreed that same-sex marriage goes against their religious beliefs, while 42 per cent agreed, and 76 per cent of Catholics favoured laws to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender