PARIS (OSV News) -- In record-breaking numbers, more than 17,800 catechumens will be baptized during the Easter Vigil on April 19, including 10,384 adults and more than 7,400 young people ages 11 to 17, according to an annual survey by the National Service for Catechumens of the French bishops' conference.
Adult baptisms have skyrocketed, observing a 45% increase compared to the number in 2024.
Announced April 10, these figures are the highest since the creation of the survey that has recorded them each year since 2002.
It’s not a passing trend, but a real "dynamic," said Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon, who is responsible for the catechumenate in France.
"Beyond the figures, which are already significant in themselves, it is a question of interpreting this sign from Heaven," Archbishop de Germay wrote about the surge in a commentary published with the survey.
Within the last decade, the number of adults baptized at Easter has risen from 3,900 in 2015 to 7,135 in 2024, and then to 10,384 in 2025. For Cécile Eon, national delegate for adult catechumenate, this increase is "impressive."
"Requests are pouring in, and the teams must be reorganized," she said at a press conference April 10 in Paris. "The proportion of catechumens aged 18 to 25 has increased particularly since 2020. They are now the most numerous among adults."
The 18- to 25-year-old group, made up of students and young professionals now represents 42% of catechumens, and has surpassed the 26- to 40-year-old group, which until now represented the historical target group of adult catechumens, the French bishops' conference said.
Catherine Lemoine is the national delegate for the pastoral care of young people ages 11 to 17.
"Baptism preparation groups, which usually had five to seven young people, now sometimes have 20, 50 or even many more," she testified at the presser. "These young people often ask themselves existential questions. Some are going through difficult situations, such as their parents' divorce, illness or the loss of their grandparents. This makes them wonder about the existence of God, and they find some answers in the Gospel, which leads them to knock on the door of the church."
For Catherine Chevalier, national head of the Proclamation of the Faith and Accompaniment of the Christian Life office of the bishops' conference, the reasons for this sharp increase are difficult to determine with precision.
"The somewhat anxiety-provoking societal context, with COVID-19 (pandemic) and the wars, is no doubt related," she pointed out. "Many are looking for reasons to hope within all this instability. But beyond these factors, all the catechumens demonstrate a very personal approach and a spiritual journey, which for some -- dates back to their childhood."
Catholic influencers and social networks certainly play a role among 15- to 25-year-olds, according to Chevalier, but she believes it is not decisive. "Those young people clearly do not want to stay in the virtual world," she explained at the Paris press conference.
"They express their thirst for God and their desire for interiority, but also their desire to belong to a community, to find rites that are consistent with what they experience inwardly, and a sense of brotherhood."
At the Cathedral of St. Louis in Versailles, very close to the palace built by King Louis XIV, Hubert Boüan is responsible for catechumens, both young and adult.
"There were four baptisms at Easter last year," he told OSV News. "There are eight this year, and there will be a dozen next year. And the requests keep coming! Every week, one or two new young people, aged between 20 and 30, come to the parish," he said.
"In 80% of cases, they come from broken families, with parents who had abandoned the faith," Boüan pointed out. "But many mention their grandmother and say they remember her going to Mass."
According to figures from the French bishops' survey, 52% of adults baptized this year come from families that were once Christian. "They want to reconnect with the faith that was once practiced in their family, and seek to explore the issues surrounding it," Boüan confirmed.
"During the preparatory meetings, they open their hearts to this subject. It is very moving," he said.
In addition to the catechumens, there are also those who were baptized just after birth but did not receive a Catholic education afterward. "They too are arriving in increasing numbers," Boüan confirmed. "Sometimes, we have to do research to find traces of their baptism. They prepare to receive the sacrament of confirmation at Pentecost."
In France, 9,000 adults were confirmed in 2024, more than double the number in 2022.
"In Versailles, the bishop has decided to plan another ceremony in November, in addition to the one at Pentecost, because there are too many of them for just one ceremony," Boüan said.
To help the newly arriving to integrate in the Catholic Church, the bishops are relying on existing pastoral projects. Every two years, the dioceses in the Paris region invite young people ages 15 to 18 to the FRAT gathering at the Marian shrine in Lourdes just before Easter. FRAT is a ministry that is over 100 years old and comes from the French equivalent of "brotherhood" -- "fraternité."
Increasingly popular in recent times, FRAT takes place April 12-17 in 2025. So far, 13,500 young people have registered, compared to only 9,000 in 2024. Catechumens are especially invited, and discover an atmosphere that is both festive and prayerful.
"Young Catholics today are very comfortable with their Christian faith and talking to their friends about it, much more so than the generation before them," Lemoine, national delegate for the pastoral care of young people, explained. Young adults ages 18 to 35 are especially invited to come to the Youth Jubilee in Rome from July 28 to Aug. 2. The bishops of France are considering placing them at the center of the pilgrimages they organize on this occasion.
For Chevalier, head of the proclamation of faith office, the "great challenge" in the coming years is to train a sufficient number of supervisors to oversee the preparation of all those who come and ask for baptism. In 2025, there's 31% more coordinators than in the previous year. The vast majority of them are very committed laypeople. But more are needed in all the dioceses of France; calls are being made to those who can come and strengthen the teams.
Archbishop de Germay said that "we see that 'baptized old Christians,' discovering unsuspected areas of the faith, are challenged and renewed by the testimony of newcomers, who are gradually introduced to the different dimensions of Christian life. Everyone comes out enriched."
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Caroline de Sury writes for OSV News from Paris.
