The Economist reported a sharp increase in the number of Catholics in France.

The number of Catholic baptisms in France has doubled since 2023, according to The Economist. On Easter Sunday in 2025, 10,384 adults were baptized, also a 46% increase from 2024 .

In addition, the number of teenagers baptized at Easter was 7,404, more than double the number in 2023 and ten times more than in 2019.

The publication cites several possible explanations:

• long-term exposure covid-19 , people began searching for new meaning in their isolation. For example, the surge in baptisms in France began in 2023, two years after the end of lockdown.
• Excessive time spent in front of screens, including due to remote work. Perhaps people are now seeking a physical community, the publication suggests.
• the spiritual impact of the fire that destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019 and the successful restoration project,
• the influence of Catholic nationalist politicians,
• opposition to the strict secular culture of France,
• unspoken rivalry with Islam in a country with a large Muslim population.

France  is a secular state. Conspicuous religious symbols are prohibited in public schools, town halls, and other official buildings.

The Economist clarified that Austria and Belgium also reported an increase in the number of baptisms in 2025, but to a small number - 240 and 536 people, respectively.

The Vatican previously published its Papal Yearbook 2025, which provides detailed information on the number of Catholics worldwide. it shows that between 2022 and 2023, the number of Catholics worldwide increased by 1.15%, rising from approximately 1.39 billion to 1.406 billion, according to the Vatican News portal. The distribution of baptized Catholics across different geographic regions varies according to the demographic characteristics of each continent.

Thus, Europe, which is home to 20.4% of the world's Catholic community, is the least dynamic region: over a two-year period, the number of Catholics increased by only 0.2%.

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