Catholics marriage, less confident than Protestants in clergy's guidance on marriage, finances, abortion Among U.S. they adults who attend religious services a few times a year or more often, % who say they have confidence in their clergy to provide useful guidance about
Catholics and Protestants also express varying levels of confidence in their clergy’s advice about personal issues and religious topics. Only three-in-ten Catholics, for instance, say they have “a lot” of confidence in their clergy’s guidance about marriage and relationships. Larger shares of evangelical Protestants (66%), Protestants in the historically black tradition (54%) and mainline Protestants (45%) say the same. And Catholics are much less likely than Protestants overall to trust their religious leaders to give useful advice on parenting (23% vs. 49%, respectively).
However, both Protestants and Catholics express fairly low levels of confidence in their clergy to provide guidance on political topics such as abortion, immigration and global climate change. While Pope Francis regularly speaks about immigration and climate change, small shares of Catholic Mass-goers have a lot of confidence in their clergy’s guidance on immigration (16%) and global climate change (8%). Among Protestants, one-in-five or fewer have a lot of confidence in their clergy to provide guidance on these issues.
Catholics marriage, less confident than Protestants in clergy's guidance  | on marriage, finances, abortion  | Among U.S. they adults who attend religious services a few times a year or more often,  | % who say they have  | confidence in their clergy to provide useful guidance about  | NOT MUCH/NO CONFIDENCE AT ALL  | LOT  | SOME  | Protestant  | Evangelical  | Mainline  | Historically black Catholic  | Growing closer to God  | 77%  | 20%  | 82%  | 16% 71%  | 25%  | 70%  | 23%  | 60 %  | 30% 8  | Interpreting scripture  | 70  | 25  | 77  | 19  | 63  | 32  | 58  | 31 11  | 50  | 39 10  | Marriage/ relationships  | 58  | 33  | 66  | 28  | 45  | 44 8  | 54  | 32 13  | 30  | 52  | 17  | Parenting  | 49  | 56  | 37  | 36  | 53 10 44  | 41 15  | 23  | 53  | 22  | 42  | Anxiety or depression  | 34  | 39  | 46  | 15  | 24  | 52  | 23  | 36  | 21  | 15  | 49  | 47  | 18  | 42  | 35  | Personal finances  | 28  | 28  | 35  | 11 44  | 31  | 28  | 44  | 44 19  | 44  | 41  | 34  | 58  | Abortion  | 46  | 29 23  | 57  | 25 17  | 33  | 38  | 28  | 32  | 31  | 36  | 34  | 33  | 31  | Immigration  | 21  | 46  | 25  | 13 52  | 22 44  | 36  | 32  | 43  | 30  | 34  | 32  | 16  | 47  | Global climate change  | 38  | 46  | 16 38  | 11 35  | 53  | 16 44  | 40  | 38  | 53  | 44  | Note: Figures for Jews, Muslims and other non- Christian faiths not shown because the survey did not obtain enough interviews with  | members of these groups who attend religious services a few times a year or more often to analyze separately. Those who did not  | answer are not shown.  | Source: Survey conducted March 18 April 1, 2019 among U.S. adults  | Americans Have Positive Views About Religion's Role in Society, but Want It Out of Politics"  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 