20,000 NEW CATHOLICS EASTER NIGHT
(OSV News) — 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.
In a letter published with the survey, French Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon said the increased numbers “continue to surprise.”
“While we have long sensed the difficulty — if not the inability — of our consumer society to respond to the deepest aspirations of the human person, we are nevertheless struck by the suddenness and the scale of the thirst for God that is being expressed today,” Archbishop de Germay wrote.
However, he added, the Church’s greatest challenge is “to accompany them over time, enabling them to become disciples, and thus full members of parish communities.”
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