Shocking Survey Shows Most U.S. Catholics Reject Church Teaching on Sexuality, Priesthood
Pew Research Center warns of high levels of doctrinal dissent as cardinals prepare to vote for a new pope
The vast majority of U.S. Catholics are thumbing their noses at official church teaching on contraception, in vitro fertilization, cohabitation, same-sex blessings, gay marriage, female clergy, and the celibate priesthood in their drive for a “more inclusive” church.
A Pew Research Center survey published on April 30 reveals shocking levels of defiance by the laity against the Roman Catholic magisterium, with most Catholics demanding change on issues of morality, theology, and ministry. The news was released before cardinals head into the conclave starting today to elect the new pope.
A staggering 84% of the faithful say the church should allow Catholics to use birth control, despite a categorical ban on artificial contraception by Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humane Vitae, which ended the speculation over artificial contraception once and for all.
A whopping 83% also say the church should allow couples to use in vitro fertilization to get pregnant, even though The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls IVF “morally unacceptable” because it separates the marriage act from procreation.
Further, IVF has led to millions of human embryos being discarded, something that the Church regards as tantamount to murder.
Weekly Mass Attenders Fail on Birth Control
While the survey found a divide between Catholics who attend weekly Mass and those who don’t on most issues, even most Catholics who are weekly Massgoers say the church should allow Catholics to use birth control (72%) and IVF (71%).
About three-quarters of Catholics (76%) say the church should allow members to receive Communion even if they are sexually cohabiting with a partner. Among Catholics who attend weekly Mass, over half (59%) would like unmarried couples living together to be given Communion.
Interestingly, the survey finds Catholics between the ages of 50 and 64 to be more permissive about administering the sacrament to cohabiting couples (79%). Among Catholics between ages 18 and 34, only 71% agreed that couples living in sin should be given Communion.
However, majorities in all the Catholic groups surveyed — White, Hispanic, men, women, Republican, Democrat — agree that the church should allow people living with a romantic partner to receive Communion.
U.S. Catholics Cheer for Same-Sex Blessings
Six in10 Catholics say the church should allow priests to bless same-sex couples. In December 2023, Pope Francis permitted clergy to offer informal blessings to homosexual couples in his declaration Fiducia Supplicans. Over half of Catholics surveyed also say the church should accept marriages of homosexual and lesbian couples.
However, in the case of gay marriage, most weekly Mass attenders (66%) as well as Catholics who vote Republican (65%) do not favor the church’s recognition of same-sex marriages, the survey finds.
Most American Catholics are also displaying high levels of dissent on the question of the ordained ministry in the church, especially the celibate priesthood in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church and excluding women from the orders of deacon and priest.
About 68% believe the church should ordain women as deacons, 59% want women to be ordained as priests, and 63% prefer a married priesthood. Among weekly Mass attenders, 54% of Catholics insist on female deacons and 41% want the church to ordain women as priests.
On married priests, 49% of weekly Mass-goers would like celibacy to be optional.
Option for a “More Inclusive” Church
When asked to choose between a “more inclusive” church “even if that means changing some of its teachings,” and a church that maintains “traditional teachings, even if that means the church gets smaller,” 60% of Catholics voted for a bigger and more inclusive church. Only 37% voted for a smaller church that would preserve traditional teaching.
The survey also finds that women are somewhat more likely than men to want a “more inclusive” church and to say women currently don’t have enough influence in it.
A fierce debate over artificial methods of birth control has divided the Catholic Church since Pope Paul VI published Humane Vitae in 1968, with an overwhelming majority of Catholics rejecting the teaching even though the church labels it a mortal sin.
“The Church has always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception,” the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family reiterated in 1997. The only type of birth control allowed under Catholic doctrine is natural family planning.
Statistics from the National Survey of Family Growth show that 92% of Catholics used condoms as a form of birth control — nearly the same rate as non-Christians, who reported condom usage at a rate of 95% and higher. Meanwhile, 68% of Catholics also admitted to using the pill.
Opposing Catholic Teaching on Contraception
Groundbreaking academic research by John T. Noonan, a Catholic lawyer and professor at Notre Dame Law School, was partly responsible for triggering informed opposition to Catholic teaching on contraception among Catholic laity.
In his bestseller Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, Noonan argued that “there is no commandment against contraception in any of the [biblical] codes of law.”
In his exegesis of New Testament texts dealing with marriage, Noonan noted that “nothing is said of intercourse for the purpose of procreation” and “nothing is said of any purpose with which marital intercourse must be undertaken.”
In his peer-reviewed article “Authority, Usury, and Contraception,” the Catholic scholar demonstrated how the church’s magisterium had made a radical U-turn in the case of usury, despite the teaching against it having an explicit basis in the Bible, the Church Fathers, Councils, and papal declarations.
On contraception, in contrast, no general council of the Church has ever spoken, ever punished by sanctions, ever condemned the defense of it [contraception] in theory. The strongest conciliar actions against contraception have been those ascribed to local councils.
The teaching of three general councils on usury as it stood in 1450, is overwhelming in comparison with the slight and scattered synodal authority on contraception.
Poor Teaching a Cause for Rejecting Traditional Morality?
The majority option for a heterodox morality and theology may be the result of poor teaching by Catholic leaders. Recent surveys reveal a devastating lack of basic understanding of the Christian faith among most Catholics.
Only 9% of American Catholics believe in the existence and influence of the Holy Trinity, according to a shocking report released by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University in late March, The Stream reported.
Of all Christian traditions, Catholics also have the lowest belief in the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Only 22% of Catholics embrace the Holy Spirit, compared to 42% of “born-again” Christians, 35% of Protestants, and 30% of self-identified Christians, the survey found.
When asked how much influence God has on their lives, Catholics also ranked lowest (28%) compared to Protestants (40%), self-identified Christians (35%), “born-again” Christians (45%) and “Integrated Disciples” (62%).
The Pew Research Center’s “Religious Landscape Study” (RLS) published in late February highlighted a precipitous decline in the Catholic Church, even though the decades-long decline in Christianity across the U.S. has stalled, The Stream reported.
“For every U.S. adult who has become a Catholic after being raised in some other religion or without a religion, there are 8.4 adults who say they were raised in the Catholic faith but who no longer describe themselves as Catholics,” the RLS report stated.
In contrast, only 1.8 people have left Protestantism for every person who converted to it after they were raised in another religious group or in no religion. Conversely, only 1.5% of U.S. adults converted to Catholicism after being raised in another denomination or no religion, bringing the Catholic population among U.S. adults to 18.9%.
Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.