Clergy Talk: Do Catholic Priests Discuss Immigration?

Social science research has long discussed the interaction of political and religious ideologies in attitude formation and political socialization. Most research focuses on the role of these forces at the level of individual religious participants, leaving empirical questions about institutional leadership. When political and religious frames on an issue are in tension, do clergy discuss those political issues with their congregations? We address this question with a case study of Catholic leaders in the United States, specifically regarding immigration. Catholic social teaching and elite leader messaging clearly communicate a pro-immigrant stance, while many rank-and-file Catholics are politically conservative and express anti-immigrant views. Using new data from the National Survey of Religious Leaders (NSRL) 2022, we examined whether Catholic leaders report discussing immigration with their congregation more than religious leaders of other denominations and more than other political issues. We found that Catholic leaders are indeed unique, reporting significantly more frequent discussion of immigration relative to other traditions and other issues, and we examined congregational correlates of this pattern. We found unique and substantive variation in issue discussion across religious traditions, suggesting that denominations may offer exposure to and influence attitudes on political issues.