By Mary Rooke, Daily Caller News Foundation | May 13, 2025
Now that the Catholic Church has its first American Pope, Pope Leo XIV, it’s interesting to see how American Catholics view the core tenets of their faith. Spoiler: It’s not good.
It seems that most American Catholics (to put it graciously) express different views opposite to the Catholic Church, according to a February survey from Pew Research Center.
Here are some of the highlights:
- 84% of U.S. Catholics say the Church should allow Catholics to use birth control.
- 83% say the Church should allow couples to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to get pregnant.
- 68% say the Church should allow women to become deacons.
- 63% say the Church should allow priests to get married.
- 59% say the Church should ordain women as priests.
- 60% say priests should bless unions between same-sex couples
- 50% say the Church should recognize marriages between same-sex couples
- 76% say Catholics living with their romantic partner should still be able to receive the Eucharist
When Pew Research asked American Catholics which two contrasting statements come closer to their view, 60% said the Church “should be more inclusive, even if that means changing some of its teachings.” In contrast, 37% said the church “should stick to its traditional teachings, even if that means the church gets smaller.”
As a traditional Catholic who loves the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), attends Mass every Sunday, prays a daily rosary, and upholds all holy days of obligation and feast days, it’s hard to understand how someone could be apart of our faith and yet deny our core beliefs on moral and biblical Church teachings.
Catholic doctrine on the Eucharist being the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, birth control, IVF, female priests, or traditional marriage are non-negotiable. During Lent, our priest gave a homily where he clearly and mercifully stated that if you believe in LGBTQ ideologies, abortion, birth control, and sex before marriage, then you have fallen away from the Catholic Church. In their act of accepting left-wing ideologies that do not promote the dignity of life from conception to death, they are denying the faith that was given to us by Jesus Christ, through the apostles.
So no. The Catholic Church should not “modernize” its core beliefs to satisfy those who have embraced clear evil just to increase the number of people in the pews. Jesus never said living a faithful life would be easy. In fact, He said on multiple occasions that we are called to suffering, but that in that suffering we will experience joy, love, and mercy.
Still, the blame probably lies more with the lackadaisical way in which these Catholics were catechized. For decades, American priests have allowed the worry of modern criticism to cloud their views. They have been afraid to tell their flock the hard truths about sin, evil, and hell. When someone doesn’t worry too much about how their actions will affect their eternal life, it’s no wonder their inherently sinful nature will lead them to accept lies as truth.
As with many Catholics, there is hope that Pope Leo XIV will bring light to these dark times, that people will fully understand the errors of their ways, and that they will come back to their faith with steadfast belief. But the answer to sin is never accepting it. The Church has no requirement to modernize. Instead, it has to be the rock, never changing, always constant.
Mary Rooke is a commentary and analysis writer at the Daily Caller News Foundation
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