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Over 20,000 catechumens in France are expected to be baptized during the Easter Vigil, marking a 20% increase compared to baptisms in 2025. According to an annual survey published by the French bishops’ conference March 25, over 13,200 adults and over 8,100 adolescents will be baptized during the April 4 Easter Vigil. The new figures mark a sustained increase in overall baptisms, particularly adults, compared to 2016, when just over 4,100 adults were baptized. Numbers ‘continue to surprise’ In a letter published with the survey, French Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon said the increased numbers “continue to surprise.” Read...

Easter is bringing a wave of new members into the Roman Catholic Church in Charlotte, continuing a growing trend across the region. Over the past two years, the number of people joining the Catholic Church in Charlotte has increased by more than 40% each year. Church leaders expect that figure to rise again this Easter weekend. At St. Matthew Catholic Church in Ballantyne alone, about 100 people are expected to be baptized — among them, Seth Miller. “I had to be a good example, a good leader in the household,” Miller said. “That’s what was originally kind of the catalyst...

The number of individuals entering the Catholic Church continues to rise across the state of Ohio. An increasing number of Ohioans are preparing to become Catholic in and outside of the Columbus diocese this year. The number of catechumens, individuals who are unbaptized, and candidates, previously baptized individuals who will enter full communion with the Church through the sacraments of initiation – the Eucharist and/or Confirmation – is increasing from previous years. Locally, the Columbus diocese will welcome nearly 500 catechumens into the Church this year through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA). Individuals preparing for baptism...

The Archdiocese of Sydney in Australia will welcome record numbers of catechumens and candidates who seek full communion with the Catholic Church ahead of Easter this year. Across the archdiocese, 338 people will be baptized at the Easter Vigil, with an additional 119 to be welcomed into full communion with the Catholic Church, says a press release from the archdiocese. Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney described the large number of people joining the Catholic Church as “a profound sign of the growth and vitality” in the Church in Sydney and proof that the “Holy Spirit is alive and active.” The...

- The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown is welcoming 282 new converts this Easter, a significant increase from previous years. - This local growth is part of a global trend, - Many new converts, particularly young adults, are drawn to the church's offer of objective truth and ancient traditions in a modern world. "Behind these numbers are people who have heard the Gospel being proclaimed and witnessed it being lived by priests, deacons, lay ministers, the faithful, as well as friends and family," Youngstown diocese Bishop David Bonnar said. "I think it is a powerful affirmation of the work of the...

Something extraordinary happened in France in the year 2025: more than 10,300 adults were baptized into the Catholic Church — the highest number recorded in the past 20 years.This unprecedented surge is even more striking because of the demographic of the new converts: mostly Gen Z adults between 18 and 25 who did not grow up in practicing families.According to the French Institute of Public Opinion, more than 50% of the population in France identifies as atheist.MSGR. GUILLAUME DERVILLE Director of the Fontblin Priestly Center, France These are genuine conversions, not something superficial. And I ask myself: where does this...

Mad Men actor Jon Hamm hosted the event, adding a light-hearted tone to the prestigious ceremony with jokes and skits. However, one may have crossed a line. The Hollywood star was interrupted by fellow actor Bob Odenkirk, who was dressed as Pope Leo XIV with a mitre and stole embossed with the Chicago Bears logo and patches. Pope Leo XIV, who became the first ever American Pope when he was elected to serve as head of the Catholic church last year, hails from Chicago and has accepted Bears jerseys as gifts over the past year. While discussing the season, Odenkirk,...

A recent statement was issued by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem on Unity and Representation of the Christian Communities in the Holy Land on January 17, 2026. It was filled with the spirit of arrogance, power and a desire to control. Why do I say that? Well, they had to claim that they were the “Patriarchs and Heads of all the churches” seven times in a document that only had around twenty sentences! In the article they reiterated that they alone represent all the churches and their flocks in any and all matters pertaining to “Christian”...

Nigerian human rights advocate: Cardinal Parolin is ‘emboldening’ Muslim attacks against ChristiansCardinal Parolin downplaying the Islamic genocide of Nigerian Christians ‘provides cover for those perpetrating the violence’ and ‘emboldens’ Muslim terrorists, Emeka Umeagbalasi said. The board chair of a Nigerian human rights organization, during an interview last week with Crux, slammed Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin for downplaying the role of Islam in the brutal genocide against the country’s Christians and said that he is encouraging further acts of Islamic terrorism against the faithful.During the interview, which was published on November 27, Emeka Umeagbalasi, the board chair of...

A group dedicated to providing a welcoming space for Jewish converts to Catholicism has launched in Israel. The Association of Hebrew Catholics celebrated its official launch with a Mass on Aug. 8, the eve of the feast of its patron, St. Edith Stein, who was a Jewish convert to Catholicism. Yarden Zelivansky, a Jewish convert to Catholicism and member of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who worked to bring the Association of Hebrew Catholics to Israel, told CNA that about 30 people attended the event. Reactions to the Association of Hebrew Catholics will likely be “mixed,” according to Zelivansky... For...

Miracles and the True Faith: Why Only Catholicism Is Confirmed by GodFrom the very beginning of salvation history, miracles have been among God’s most powerful tools to confirm divine revelation. Moses confronted Pharaoh with the ten plagues, Elijah called down fire upon Mount Carmel, and Christ Himself demonstrated His divinity through cures, resurrections, and His own Resurrection from the dead. The Catholic Church, established by Christ and perpetuated through His Apostles, has continued to be marked by miracles throughout her two-thousand-year history.In this ten-part series, we have examined the countless miraculous signs that God has given to His Church: the...

Catholic grade school attacked. At least 20 injured.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has announced that it will donate $25,000 toward the reconstruction of Holy Family Church in Gaza in the wake of the July 17 missile attack that left three dead and 15 wounded, including the parish priest, in addition to structural damage to the only Catholic church in the area.“We are deeply saddened by the deaths, injuries, and structural damage at the Holy Family Church in Gaza and stand in solidarity with our Catholic brothers and sisters,” group CEO Ted Deutch said in a press release.“We pray for the full recovery of the injured and the...

I have just finished reading “The Old Covenant: Revoked or Not Revoked?” by Dr. Robert Sungenis. It is a study debunking the notion, now regnant in liberal theological circles, that the Old Covenant still stands side-by-side with the New Covenant. According to this novelty, in essence, God’s “A Plan” and God’s “B Plan” are both currently pleasing to Him and both fully in effect. Opposed to this, the Catholic Faith teaches that the Old Law — itself good, holy, and of divine origin — was a preparation for the New, and that the New Law superceded and fulfilled the Old....

Rep. Tom Tancredo – who vied for the Republican presidential nomination to make illegal immigration a priority issue – suggested in a House speech yesterday that Pope Benedict XVI is encouraging Latin Americans to come to the U.S. to bolster flagging membership in the Catholic Church.

Dorothy Day founded an ongoing series of weekly talks at the Worker, dedicated to “the clarification of thought”. These talks continue to the present. Now, however, some Catholic Workers complain, most of the talks are immersed in the hard left and the thinking expressed is actually “The Calcification of Thought”, one wag has quipped mournfully. Today, attendees of these weekly lectures have encountered the following ideas: - Anti Israel, Anti-“Zionist”, Anti “Usury”, Anti “NEOCON” and pro-Iranian, pro-Assad, pro-PLO propaganda. - Support for violent riots in American cities - The return of antiquated Marxist terminology, like castigating peoples' opinions as "bourgeois"....

On July 7, 1846, a contingent of Marines raised the American flag over Monterey, California, to mark a proclamation by U.S. consul Thomas Larkin that the territory was being annexed as a consequence of the war with Mexico. Much of the future state had already been taken from Mexico's nominal control by an uprising of American settlers under the Bear Flag. Victory in the Mexican War meant that the country gained Texas, California, and everything in between, comprising most of what is now New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Next to the War of Independence and the Civil...

...The trend that we are seeing is a very positive one. People are seeking tradition...It's a learning lesson for a lot of pastors I talk to. If you are not creating an environment where the people that come to your church can find holiness and meaning and be elevated, you're not doing your job. There was a time in the nineties where people were hungry for a personal encounter with God, and Evangelicalism I think offers that better than some Catholicism circles. Maybe that's to be debated, but times change and needs an appetites change. And I could tell you...

Apparently the recently deceased Pope Francis is the patron saint of "Mother Earth." At least that’s what the climate Armageddon-obsessed TIME magazine is trying to argue. TIME senior correspondent and eco-doom prophet Justin Worland’s papal obit read like a cheap comic strip: “The Climate Pope: Francis and His Environmental Legacy,” Worland’s headline read, celebrating the leftist pope for his radical eco crusaderism. According to Worland’s twisted worldview, the first big “environmental move” the pope did upon ascending to the papacy was simply “choosing the papal name Francis after Saint Francis of Assi, known among other things for his appreciation of...

Sydney Johnston grew up in a nondenominational Christian household — but now the Upper West Side millennial is a devout Catholic. “There’s just something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass that’s been preserved,” Johnston, 30, told The Post. “The church really communicates a degree of reverence that I didn’t find in the more liberal, laissez-faire approach of nondenominational churches.” Confirmed in December 2024 at the Church of Notre Dame in Morningside Heights, Johnston is one of a growing number of young people turning to the Catholic Church from other denominations, religions...