Easter Vigil 2025 contained some very good news. Adult and adolescent baptisms in France are up, and the increase is substantial.
It seems like years since there was good news about Catholicism in Europe. Across the Continent, birth rates have sharply declined. During Sunday Mass, the great cathedrals are nearly empty of worshippers. In 2018, Irish voters made abortion legal. Fewer than one-fifth of Italians practice any form of Christianity. Across the Continent, closed church buildings and seminaries dot the countryside.
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Indeed, many commentators predict a “post-Christian” Europe. This bit of good news is a solid indication that the doomsayers are wrong.
17,000 Catechumens
With a palpable sense of relief—and a bit of jubilation—many hear the French Catholic Church‘s good tidings. The tidings have lit up the Catholic media world. France’s priests baptized over ten thousand adults at Easter in 2025. The adult number increased forty-five percent over 2024—also a banner year. Likewise, there has been a substantial increase in the number of “reverts,” those baptized as infants who left the Church for various reasons and then came back as adults to receive the sacrament of confirmation. These numbered over 9,000 in 2024, double the figure for 2022.
The Church in France is still in bad shape since those seventeen thousand souls come from a French population of over sixty-six million. According to World Atlas, roughly sixty-five percent of that total population claim to be Catholic, but fewer than three percent actually practice the Faith.
Nonetheless, the intensity of these conversions and the unexpected growth of the Faith among young people are reasons for hope. Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon echoes the sentiments of many when he refers to the surge in catechumens as a “sign from Heaven.”
The Young and the Intelligent
One very encouraging sign is the relative youth of the newly baptized. The seven thousand adolescents joined roughly 4,200 people between 18 and 25 and almost 4,000 between 26 and 40. On the other hand, less than 2,000 were over forty. This happy occasion could signify that the massive fall-off of members in the half-century following the Second Vatican Council has finally ended, and a new generation is preparing to take up the mantle.
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Another reason to take heart is that nearly half (42.6%) of the newly baptized were students, presumably at some stage of university-level education. Five years ago, students only formed seventeen percent of catechumens. This increase is heartening because this demographic group is usually the most inclined to be liberal.
Adding to the good news is the fact that young people especially embrace tradition. It takes courage and massive amounts of grace to see society as it is and move in another direction. It takes great wisdom to look at the “false, fading and transient happiness of this life” and follow the narrow, challenging road to everlasting life. That is what each and every one of these young Catholics did. The Church welcomes and congratulates all of them, as well as their fellow catechumens around the world.
Searching for Answers
All of this data leaves a critical question unanswered. Does this increase indicate real change, or is it merely a coincidence that will pass as quickly as it came? Only time can tell.
However, there are clues about the answer to another critical question—whether this phenomenon extends beyond France. The data is sketchy. Team Initiation, a website devoted to those who work with adult converts, records increases in Belgium and the United Kingdom, as well as in the U.S. Dioceses of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando and Monterey.
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Catholic News Agency (CNS) reports findings from a recent study by the Pew Research Institute, showing that Catholic numbers have been “stable” since 2014. However, the same survey points out that the “decline of Christianity in the U.S. has slowed.” Slowing the decline may comfort those already in leadership, but it does not point to long-term health.
So, take a moment, lift your eyes to Heaven, and thank God that these men and women will enrich His Church. Then, go out and do whatever you can to find some more.
Photo Credit: © Fotografia Juan Reig – stock.adobe.com