Religious leaders have time for chats (7)
I believe the answer is:
rabbits
'chats' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both animals as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'religious leaders have time' is the wordplay.
'religious leaders' becomes 'rabbis' (I've seen this before).
'have' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'rabbis' placed around 't' is 'RABBITS'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rabbits that I've seen before include "timid people" , "Talks at length" , "Bat ribs in the mammals" , "Watership Down protagonists" , "waffles" .)