The Washington Post curiously published an article coinciding with Pope Leo’s visit to France. They are reporting a recent trend of people seeking to join the Catholic Church as full members. Much has been reported about the decline in membership, especially in Western secular countries in Europe and the United States.
The Catholic Church continues to grow in Africa and other parts of the developing world, excluding Latin America, where secularism and Evangelicals compete for followers. Surprisingly, the rise in Catholic converts comes from places such as the United States, France, Spain, and Belgium. As it stands now, those wishing to be part of the Church have not yet made up for the number of Catholics who no longer practice after the abuse scandal and COVID. However, the inclusion of new members is indeed encouraging.
In the United States, France, Belgium, and Spain, where secularism is prevalent, young people are questioning whether the ideology can adequately answer their existential questions about their lives. In France, for example, the Bishops’ Conference reports a threefold rise in baptisms from 2019 to 2026. Teenage conversions rose from the previous year, and new converts skewed toward females, with most under 40. The data also suggests those wishing to join the Church are not necessarily politically conservative. The same is happening in those countries listed above.
To make sense of the upsurge, we must acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is working in the world, even in countries where people regularly deny God’s existence and providence. It is easy to become cynical and think that every young person has been so brainwashed by education, society, and social media that they have no desire to seek the truth. The new data helps us step back and consider that our cynicism isn’t always true, and why these people are flocking to the Church.
These converts are discovering what good Catholics have known all along. Secularism, hedonism, and materialism are dead-end propositions and are inconsistent and hypocritical. Even the more liberal of thought may have a wish for social justice for all; if open to the truth, they will come up against undeniable contradictions. Wanting to protect the human dignity of all, as social justice claims, flies directly in the face of a society promoting the killing of the unborn and the elderly through so-called mercy killing. If social justice exists for some and not for all, it is not social justice at all.
The contradiction is so clear and unmistakable to those who are open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Once the scales have fallen from their eyes and the selfish, diabolic intentions of bad actors are clear, going back to accepting these ideologies is not an option. The only option left is to return to God by joining the Catholic Church. These young converts are discovering that happiness and contentment come from union with God, not the world. The most perfect union with God is found in His Catholic Church.
Catholicism is more attractive than other Christian denominations because of its two pillars: the sacraments and tradition. When the sacraments are celebrated, the rites are beautiful because they address two aspects of every person: the physical and spiritual reality that makes us human, created in the image of God. Human beings are not just spiritual beings; they live in a physical body, and incorporating the two makes the reception of grace more intelligible.
When the Eucharist is celebrated, the Holy Spirit changes ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The physical is the bread and wine, and the spiritual reality is the transubstantiation of those substances, changing the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus even though they still appear to be bread and wine.
Every sacrament follows the same pattern by using a physical appearance in union with the spiritual reality of grace. The Church’s tradition in administering the sacraments is also appealing. For over two thousand years, the Church has baptized its members the same way it does now. It is deeply rooted in Scripture, where water cleansed people of their sins, and oil was used to anoint as part of a divine action. Christ used these traditions and transformed them into the sacraments.
In addition to being recipients of the sacraments, there is a great appeal to be part of something greater than oneself and to join the army of believers dating back to the time of Jesus. The Church’s relentless defense of the unborn and vulnerable from its inception smacks in the face of secularism, which irrationally changes and falls into debauchery as a culture falls deeper into immorality. What was shunned ten years ago now becomes accepted. For some young people, this instability adds to their discontent, which only religion can remedy.
Young people who convert are searching for stability and seek answers that a secular culture can never provide. In searching and being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, these young converts seek a path of life only the Catholic Church can provide.
Pray for more converts, and pray for those disillusioned with their lives who are willing to be open to God’s truth. Some have answered the call; more need to. The advances of new disciples may seem small now, but never forget the Church grew from a small band of followers.
Great thanks to God that some young people have concluded that the world will never have the power to make them whole, and that the Catholic Church can.