How married priests would change the Catholic Church

When Pope Francis' No. 2, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, said last week that the church's policy on celibate clergy is up for discussion, some analysts saw it as a shift in Vatican thinking.

Would the option lead to more young Catholic men pursuing the vocation?

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The U.S. church has seen the ranks of priests decline from almost 60,000 in 1965 to just under 40,000 this year, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostate at Georgetown University.

Some 30,000 American priests have quit because they wanted a relationship, according to Thomas Groome, a professor of theology at Boston College. The number worldwide may be as high as 125,000, Schenk said.

FutureChurch says the financial concerns are overstated. In 2009, unmarried Catholic priests averaged $44,033 in salary, housing and food. Their married ex-Anglican counterparts received an average of $56,142 in compensation, and Protestant pastors averaged $57,132.

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