France's improbable adult baptism boom
Among European countries with Catholic roots, France wears its religion lightly. A secular state by law since 1905, the country bans conspicuous religious symbols in state schools, town halls and other official buildings. Less than 5% of its people attend a religious service on a weekly basis, compared with 20% in Italy and 36% in devout Poland. Yet France, of all places, is now witnessing an unexpected surge in Catholic fervour.
At Easter this year 10,384 adults were baptised, a jump of 46% on last year, and nearly double the number in 2023. This year's figure was the highest since France's Conference of Bishops began such records 20 years ago. At 7,404, the number of teenagers baptised this Easter was more than double the figure in 2023, and ten times that in 2019. France is not the only European country to report an upsurge in adult baptisms. Austria and Belgium this year also reported a big increase, but to a tiny total of 240 and 536 respectively. It is the scale, and context, that make the trend in France so arresting.
One broad explanation may be the lasting effect of covid-19, imposed solitude and the quest for purpose that confinement generated. Some people took up yoga; others, God. The uptick in baptisms in France began in 2023, two years after the end of the lockdown, which happens to be exactly the prescribed length of preparation for adult baptism. Sonia Danizet Bechet, who grew up in an atheist family in France, says that covid was the trigger that moved her to begin the catéchuménat (the path to baptism).
Excessive time spent on screens (and working from home) could be another factor. People may now be seeking non-virtual community. Nearly a quarter of adults baptised at Easter in France in 2024 were students (the rest came from a mix of backgrounds, both white-collar and blue-collar), and 36% were aged 18-25. Three-fifths were women. Strikingly, nearly a quarter came from a non-religious background. 'We work with a lot of people who grew up with no experience of faith and feel something is missing,' says a lay Catholic who accompanies those preparing for baptism in Paris.
But why France? After all, its Catholic church has been damaged by home-grown sexual-abuse scandals. Many churches struggle to put bottoms on pews, or priests in the pulpit. Some point to the spiritual effect of the fire that gutted Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019, and the painstaking and transcendently successful project to rebuild it—a form of resurrection and an invitation to faith, according to its chaplain. Others suggest a link to the prominence of Catholic-nationalist politicians; a pushback against France's strict secular culture; or even an unspoken rivalry with Islam in a country with a big Muslim population.
France does not share America's starry, big-teeth televangelist culture. Yet even there some younger priests have become mini online stars, helping to spread the word—and prompting the odd clash with the staid church hierarchy. Frère Paul-Adrien, a bearded Dominican monk with half a million YouTube followers and an acoustic guitar, is one such influenceur. At Easter he says he received on average five baptism requests a day: 'We are overwhelmed by what is taking place.'
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