What steps has the Catholic Church taken as a whole to address a shortage of priests? It seems like the first instinct of the news media when it comes to the Church's response to a shortage of priests is to end the rule enforcing celibacy.   But that is not what the Church has been doing.  So, what has she done (as a whole) to address the fact that an aging population of priests is not being replaced at the rate that the Church is growing?
The comments by Pope Francis about allowing older married men to be ordained and serve in isolated areas is interesting, although I don't think this will happen any time soon, and certainly not in the numbers needed if 25 per cent of churches do not have a resident priest. 

What I have observed being reported is that dioceses around the world are addressing the shortage of priests as best they can, by merging parishes. This seems to have been made possible because fewer Catholics are attending mass at the same time as there are fewer priests1. Another thing I have noticed in a limited way is the employment of lay ministers to assist the priests. 



1The RCC is growing in sub-Saharan Africa. Gross numbers are steady in US, balancing leavers with Latin immigrants, but with falling attendances at mass, which is what we are talking about. Numbers are falling in Europe because of a move away from religion, and also in South America, where significant numbers are converting to evangelical denominations.