Global Surveys on Catholic Marriage and Family Life Present Surprises

St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican

One year prior to the Catholic Bishops' Synod on Family, started on October 5 this year, the Vatican had sent out a preparatory document with a questionnaire on marriage and family to all the Catholic Bishops' Conferences of the world to know the situation and mind of the present-day Catholics. The synod participants are now discussing their points based mostly on the results of this survey.

Following this, Univision Global, a U.S.-based communications company, through Bendixen and Amandi International, did a survey of its own of 12,038 Catholics in 12 countries of three continents. These countries are the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and the Philippines. This survey, being independent of the Catholic Church, provides the changing nature of the Catholics in this modern world. 

Both the surveys give a picture of the gap between the official Catholic Church teachings and the life led by the Catholics around the world.


For details and additional information on the surveys, please access the following:

The Vatican survey of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of the world: 

• Vatican Preparatory Document with Questionnaire on Marriage and Family

• Vatican launches world survey on modern family life

• Vatican Collecting Diocesan Data, Not Lay Opinions in Worldwide Survey
• Vatican surveys church worldwide on response to social and family matters
• Lay groups launch surveys to answer Vatican questionnaire
• Vatican confronts shifting landscape on family issues
• German and Swiss Bishops publish first results of Vatican family life survey
• Pope's global survey reveals more Catholics support abortion, divorce than previously thought
• Marriage and the family -- what do Catholics around the world think?

 The Univision survey of Catholics in the world:

• Voice of the People (Global survey of Roman Catholics)
• Global Survey of Roman Catholics
• Poll suggests global split among Catholics on Church teaching
• Catholic Church Experiencing Global Divisions on Sexual, Gender, Social Issues: Survey