Number of Adult Baptisms in France Rises Again This Year as Crucifixes Are Erected Across Countryside

The Catholic Herald (UK) ^ | 4/14/23 | Thomas Colsy

[marshmallow]

There was significant rise in the number of baptisms at this year’s Easter vigil in France, according to figures published before the Easter Triduum by the French National Service for Catechesis and Catechumenate.

This year at the Easter vigil, 5,463 adults received the sacrament of baptism across France, a 21 per cent rise on the year before. In 16 dioceses, the number of converts doubled.

The rise has been both steady and consistent. The figures revealed there were 3639 adult baptisms in 2021, meaning 2023 represented a 50 per cent increase on two years ago. Meanwhile, in the past twenty years, according to Le Figaro, “adult baptism requests have doubled”.

The increasing number of Catholics finding the Faith in France are from disparate backgrounds. Of those confirmed at the Easter Vigil this year, a third of those baptised were in the in the 18-25 age bracket– a proportional increase from 24 per cent two years ago. According to trends, the Church is receiving marginally more women than men into her fold.

Three per cent of converts were Muslim, which is less than in 2021 when it was reported by Mission Ismérie (a charity aimed at evangelisation to non-Christian religions) that over 10 per cent of converts that year came from Islam.

There is a noticeably more pronounced growth in rural areas than urban areas. This year, of the 16 dioceses where adult baptisms doubled, 15 were rural. Additionally, there was only a 17 per cent increase in Paris (compared to 33 per cent nationally).

[frogjerk]

May they be future Saints!

Lord, send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the Earth!

[pax_et_bonum]

Amen!

[hinckley buzzard]

Encouraging news.