A new national survey of Catholic priests in the United States found that the more-newly ordained continue to be more conservative than their predecessors, Pope Leo enjoys a high degree of trust, and American bishops are still regarded somewhat with comparative suspicion.

“Pope Leo XIV is perhaps enjoying a ‘honeymoon’ phase among the US presbyterate, with 86% of priests expressing ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in him, and 80% of priests expecting that the relationship between the Vatican and the US Church will improve ‘somewhat’ or ‘significantly’” under his leadership, the study found.

That’s according to the summary report from the 2025 National Study of Catholic Priests, conducted by Gallup at the behest of the Catholic University of America’s Catholic Project and released Oct. 14. The 2025 study surveyed the same cohort of priests who were contacted in 2022 for the last report conducted by the same institution.

The new survey also saw a “clear generational shift away from liberal self-identification” among newer priests. “Among those ordained before 1975, 61% identified as ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ liberal and less than 15% as conservative,” the summary report noted. Among priests ordained in 2010 or later, “more than a third (37%) described themselves as politically moderate, while nearly half (51%) identified as ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ conservative, and only about one in ten as liberal.” 

Credit: The Catholic Project

The survey found similar results when priests were asked about their theological positions. In fact, the results showed “an even sharper decline in progressivism and a stronger consolidation on the conservative side.”

Over 70% of priests ordained before 1975 identified as holding a progressive theology. Among priests ordained since the beginning of 2010, that number is only 8%. 

“By contrast, over 70% of the youngest priests described themselves as either ‘conservative/orthodox’ or ‘very conservative/orthodox’ when it comes to their theology, according to the summary.

CatholicVote reported in 2022 on the Catholic Project’s last national poll of priests, which produced similar findings regarding the generational shift in politics and theology between older and younger clergymen.

“Fewer than half of respondents in the survey had ‘quite a lot’ or ‘a great deal’ of confidence in their bishop,” CatholicVote reported, and an even lower number expressed confidence in the U.S. Bishops as a body.

“Three years later,” according to the new Catholic Project report, “there has been modest improvement on this measure, with 52% of diocesan priests reporting having confidence in their own bishops, and 27% of all priests reporting confidence in the US Bishops as a body (compared to 49% and 22%, respectively, in 2022).” 

The summary noted that “around 30 bishops have been appointed” since the 2022 survey, “so a certain number of the priests are responding about a different person than they were” in the last study.