<P> According to sociologist Dean Hoge, the number of Roman Catholics in the world has been growing, but "the growth in the number of priests has been zero ." Wealthy western nations have a shrinking population of priests, while other countries are adding priests, "though not always fast enough ." Hoge offered eight suggestions to offset the priest shortage in the United States: recruit more seminarians, incardinate more immigrant priests, ordain more married former Anglican clergy, permit marriage for diocesan priests, incardinate more former Catholic priests who left the church for marriage, ordain more permanent deacons, employ more lay ministers, or ordain women . </P> <P> Various causes for the priest shortage have been suggested and, in some cases, studied . They include: </P> <P> In 1985, Dean R. Hoge conducted a survey of Catholic college students and determined that celibacy was the most significant deterrent keeping men from entering the priesthood . Hoge estimated that if celibacy were optional for diocesan priests, there would be four times the number of men entering the priesthood . </P> <P> The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate study in 2008 noted that half of the approximately 19,000 active diocesan priests in the U.S. expected to retire before 2019 . </P>

Number of roman catholic priests in the world