The record number of adults in France is expected to have been baptized nationwide on Easter, driven primarily by young people who participate in the Catholic Church.
Around 10,384 French adults will be baptized between Saturday evening and Easter Sunday. According to At the Conference of the French Bishops (CEF). This is on top of 7,404 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 who are expected to be baptized this week.
The CEF said the record number was largely driven by people under the age of 25, up 45% among adults and 33% among adolescents compared to last year. This can be explained in part by the fact that fewer babies are baptized by their parents.
However, others also suggest that cultural changes are ongoing in the country. Commenting on the surge in popularity of the Catholic Church, the young people, former bishop of Monsignor Ray, has speculated that many are experiencing a lack of meaning in modern society.
“In this age where both individualism and consumerism are rampant, awakened cultures are disengaged, and while the anthropological benchmarks are atomized, at this dead end, humans cannot measure the sky and ignore the problems of God even more than they had before.” I said Valeurs Actuelles.
Political scientist Jerome Fauchett has suggested that there have been multiple factors in the revival of the French Catholic Church over the past decade.
Faucett argued that the 2013 law allowing same-sex marriage in France fundamentally disrupted the “fraction of civilization” and caused a strong mobilization of Catholics against the modern trends of sexuality. He also said that many view their country as Christian land under attack during the Muslim terrorist attacks that began in France in 2015.
Finally, political scientists speculated that the 2019 fire at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris was seen as a sign of God to return to the church.
Pauline, a 26-year-old woman who grew up in an atheist family, told the publication she intended to be baptized within the next two years.
Despite France being one of the world’s most secular societies, 2021 investigation Discovering that more than half of the population does not believe in God; Opinion survey This week, 77% still found that France is considered a culturally and traditionally Catholic country.
