What do Catholics around the world think about married priests?

Recently, Catholic bishops across the Amazon called for Pope Francis to allow the ordination of married men as priests in order to address severe clergy shortages in the region. Church leaders worldwide are debating the proposal, with some conservative cardinals strongly opposing the idea. Pew Research Center has raised a similar question with Catholics in nearly 30 countries – should the church allow priests to marry?

In a U.S. survey conducted in 2015, most Catholics (62%) favored the idea. Roughly six-in-ten or more Catholics in much of Central and Eastern Europe echoed this view in a 2015-2016 survey – including in Belarus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine – although fewer shared this perspective in Poland (49%) and Bosnia (31%). The question was also asked in a 2013 survey of Latin America, which found wide disparities across 19 countries, from 20% in Guatemala who said priests should be allowed to marry up to 66% in Uruguay. A slim majority of Catholics in Brazil – home to the world’s largest Catholic population and the bulk of the Amazon region – expressed this view (56%).