Catholic baptisms surge among young adults in France

Young adults are helping drive a surge in Catholic baptisms in France, bringing new growth to the Church amid reports of declining traditional Catholic practice across the country.

Adult baptisms have more than tripled over the past decade, rising from 4,124 in 2016 to 13,234 in 2026, according to a Sept. 25 report from The Telegraph. 

Pope Leo XIV, who concludes his four-day apostolic journey to France Sept. 28, has addressed the rise in new Catholics and called for continued formation and accompaniment of those entering the faith, as Zeale News previously reported.

Malick-Emmanuel Seck, 32, told The Telegraph he once viewed Catholicism as something belonging to older generations. After entering a Paris parish, however, he encountered a different picture.

“I thought it was something for old French families, rather dusty, with nothing but old people,” Seck said. “Then I arrived at La Trinité parish in Paris and saw a thousand young people of my age, from the same backgrounds, with the same interests and the same spiritual questions. I discovered a new family.”

Seck, a business lawyer who was baptized at Easter last year, pointed to uncertainty about the future as one reason young people may be looking to the faith.

“There are wars, the international situation, artificial intelligence, all these uncertainties and anxieties about the future,” he said. “I think many people are beginning to realise that material things are not the most important things in human life, and that the spiritual dimension is also very important, even essential.”

The growth among young adults stands against a longer decline in childhood baptism in France. In the early 1960s, 93% of babies were baptized by 3 months old, compared with fewer than 20% of children baptized by age 7 today, according to figures cited by The Telegraph.

The Telegraph also spoke with 23-year-old art history student Raphaël Papion, who was baptized this Easter and traced the beginning of his conversion to a 2022 visit to St. Peter’s Basilica.

“I felt that [God] was waiting for me, that He was there for me, and that it was up to me to make the journey towards Him,” Papion said.

Papion said his generation is seeking for “concrete and stable points of reference in a world that is moving very fast, even too fast.”

He pointed to faith as an answer to that search.

“God and the Trinity represent stability…something timeless,” he said. “It is that inner peace which I think people are looking for.”

After stops in Paris and Lourdes, Pope Leo is visiting Metz today for an interreligious gathering before returning to Rome.

>> Pope Leo challenges France’s growing Church: Baptism is only the beginning <<