More than 10,000 adults will become members of the Roman Catholic Church in France this Easter — a historic high that marks the largest wave of conversions in at least two decades, according to the Bishops’ Conference of France.
The figure marks a 45% increase from last year and reflects a dramatic demographic shift: the largest share of converts are now young adults.
The 18-to-25 age group, largely students and young professionals, now comprises 42% of adult catechumens, surpassing the 26-to-40 age bracket that historically dominated conversion figures. Dioceses also report a sharp rise in adolescent baptisms, with more than 7,400 teens between the ages of 11 and 17 preparing to receive the sacrament, a 33% increase over last year.
Overall, adult baptisms in France have more than doubled since 2015 — from 3,900 to 10,391, a 160% increase over the past decade.
This trend comes as the Church prepares for the Jubilee of Young People in Rome, which the bishops’ report describes as “a meeting place for young catechumens from around the world.”
“The great challenge that presents itself to us now is to make disciples,” Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon wrote in his official reflection on the report. “We must not simply imagine some procedures for ’after’ baptism, but our entire parish communities must become aware of their collective mission.”
Mass attendance is also climbing.
“We shattered attendance records,” Father Benoist de Sinety, pastor of St. Eubert Church in Lille, told the Catholic weekly Famille Chrétienne.
“Nearly a thousand faithful gathered at Saint-Maurice Church in the evening — many of them young people attending for the first time,” he added.
“Something’s happening. It’s happening in France. It’s happening in England. It’s happening in the U.S. I only began noticing it a few weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday,” wrote Robert P. George, director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, posted on X. “It seems awfully sudden, so perhaps it’s just a blip. If so, though, it’s a widespread blip.”
Women still account for the majority of France’s converts (63%), and urban areas are seeing stronger growth this year, reversing a recent rural uptick.
