Schwarzenegger more trustworthy than the pope, Austrians say

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Vienna - Austrian-born California "Gubernator" Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austria's only world-famous celebrity, inspires more trust among Austrians than Pope Benedict XVI, a survey presented on Friday said.

Five hundred Austrians were interviewed about whether they "trusted, distrusted or did not know" international personalities and the answers were combined to generate a "trust index."

The pope's index on the trust study compiled by the Austrian press agency and the polling institute OGM was 33, Schwarzenegger's 34. Both were beaten hands down by the Dalai Lama, who leads the ranking with an index of 49, followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (35).

The Tibetan spiritual leader's position comes as no surprise to OGM head Wolfgang Bachmayer, who said: "The Dalai Lama is regarded as a cheerful promoter of peace."

Schwarzenegger, Austria's only world-famous celebrity, inspires less criticism than the head of the Catholic Church, Bachmayer said.

Still barely in the positive range were Microsoft founder Bill Gates (14) and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (11). European Comission President Jose Manuel Barroso inspires more distrust than trust (-7).

The negative end of the scale is shared by two other world leaders: Russian President Vladimir Putin (-60) and his counterpart in the United States George W Bush (-78).