Pope Leo greets crowds in St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Vatican Media
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 14, 2025 / 13:02 pm (CNA).
A2025surveyofmorethan1,100Americanpriestsfoundhighratesofself-reportedpersonalflourishing,strongconfidenceinPopeLeoXIV,andamixedleveloftrustinU.S.bishops.
TheNationalStudyofCatholicPriests,publishedonOct.14,wascommissionedbytheCatholicProjectatTheCatholicUniversityofAmericaandconductedbyGallup.ResearcherssurveyedthesamepriestswhoweresurveyedinTheCatholicProject’s2022surveytoexaminetheU.S.priesthood.
Thesurveyshowedstrongconfidenceinthefirst-everAmericanpope.About43%ofthosesurveyedexpressed“agreatdeal”ofconfidenceinLeoandanother43%reported“quitealot”ofconfidenceinthepontiff.About13%saidtheyhave“some”confidence,andonly1%expressed“verylittle”confidence.
MostpriestsalsopredictedtheU.S.Church’srelationshipwiththeVaticanwillimprove,with51%sayingitwillimprovesignificantlyand28%sayingitwillimprovesomewhat.About17%saiditwouldlikelystaythesame,and3%thinkitwillworsen
