“Latin American Catholics favor women priests more than married priests” (Graphic courtesy Pew Research Center. Headline by RNS)
Support for allowing priests to get married is, surprisingly, not as high (though still significant). Only in the United States is support for allowing priests to marry (69%) greater than the support for ordaining women (64%).
In every Latin American country surveyed by Pew, support for women’s ordination is greater than support for allowing priests to marry: Argentina (71% versus 64%), Chile (69% versus 65%), Colombia (56% versus 52%), Peru (65% versus 32%), Mexico (47% versus 38%), Brazil (83% versus 50%).
In Argentina and Mexico, even the support for same-sex marriage is greater than the support for allowing priests to marry.
I do not know enough about Latin America to explain these surprising numbers. Perhaps Latin Americans are not as patriarchal as we thought. It could also be the result of centuries of clericalism, where the clergy are put on a pedestal as holy men who are above everyone else.
But we should not forget: Even though the support for women priests is higher, the support for married priests is substantial. Only in Mexico and Peru is the support less than 50%.
One thing is clear: It has nothing to do with fidelity to church teaching since, according to Pew, Latin Americans have no problem with birth control, women’s ordination or allowing unmarried couples to go to Communion.
In any case, in Latin America those supporting women priests have done a much better job convincing the laity than have those who favor optional celibacy.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66fef8dad8a342dfb9a7b9dd9c4a0b39&url=https%3A%2F%2Freligionnews.com%2F2024%2F10%2F03%2Flatin-american-catholics-favor-women-priests-more-than-married-priests%2F&c=54570784571160782&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-03 08:24:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
