Four in five Austrian priests would back the Roman Catholic Church ordaining married men to compensate for the lack of new candidates for the priesthood, a poll showed.

While the poll did not link the two issues, the Vatican is struggling with a string of revelations of child sexual abuse by its priests that some critics have linked to the issue of celibacy. According to the GfK survey of 500 Austrian clergymen - around one-third of all priests in Austria - 51 per cent are also in favour of allowing women to be ordained priests.

Last month Austrian bishops urged the Vatican to discuss the issue of priestly celibacy, a requirement specific to the Catholic religion which Pope Benedict XVI has until now refused to call into question.

Asked separately about the Church's handling of the paedophilia scandal, 51 per cent of Austrian priests surveyed had a negative view of the Vatican's handling of the issue.

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