Paix liturgique

This year, even more so than last year (and the same will likely happen next year), the number of adult and adolescent baptisms has skyrocketed: 21,000 throughout France, more than the double of last year's figure, including 810 in Paris (among all sensibilities, including baptisms celebrated at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet).

What is the significance of this phenomenon? asks historian Guillaume Cuchet in Études ("A Wave of Baptisms That Gladdens the Church," January 2026, pp. 67-78). Drawing on the work of two important historians of contemporary Catholicism, Gérard Cholvy and Yves-Marie Hilaire (Histoire religieuse de la France contemporaine 1800-1880, Privat, 1985), the author analyses the fluctuations these historians have observed since the beginning of the 19th century, showing a generally downward trend. In other words, the significance of this wave of baptisms, an undeniable influx, must be contextualized within the ongoing marginalization of Catholicism in France. It is, therefore, a very welcome event, but one that should not lead to talk of a “renaissance” of the Church, as was prematurely done during the rise of charismatic movements, the emergence of the “John Paul II generation,” or the surprising appeal of large gatherings of the faithful.

Regarding the baptism of young men, it is important to remember that between 2008 and 2020, the percentage of self-identified Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 fell from 43% to 25% in twelve years. The decline in Catholic affiliation in French society primarily affects younger generations. Furthermore, in 2000, approximately 400,000 Catholic baptisms were recorded in France across all age groups, although the majority were of boys; by 2023, this figure had dropped to fewer than 200,000. Of these, baptisms of children over the age of 7 have since increased from 20,000 to 24,000 annually. Therefore, we can conclude that while the Church has "recovered" 4,000 baptisms, it has "lost" 200,000.

However, we should rejoice in this “recovery” from the drop in infant baptisms thanks to adult baptisms, even if it is less than 2%: 4,468 adult baptisms in 2020; 3,639 in 2021 (due to COVID-19); 4,278 in 2022; 5,463 in 2023; 7,135 in 2024; 10,000 in 2025; and 21,000 in 2026. In fact, this represents a rejuvenation of the few Catholics who still remain in the faith: 42% of the 10,000 new baptisms at Easter 2025 were of people between 18 and 25 years old, compared to approximately 20% five years earlier. However, just a few years ago, the 25-40 age group made up the majority of the number.

So what is it that draws these young people—a minority, but a significant one—to baptism? Christ himself, of course. But Christ within the context and through the providential means of the times. A time in which we see God bringing forth a greater good from evil:

- From the evil of secularization and rampant individualism; a religious reaction toward religion (and even, it must be acknowledged, yoward other religions and Christian denominations, in particular evangelic groups).

- From the evil of the Islamization of society; a reaction based on identity, which Guillaume Cuchet emphasizes: the fervour of young Muslims, their mockery of the "atheism" of young native French people, awakens some of them. It is worth noting that it is clear the the short videos of Father Matthieu Raffray or Brother Paul Adrien d'Hardemare are usually responses to questions posed in the context of their interactions with young people who frequent mosques.

This reaction thus has an identity dimension: the success among young Catholics of Father Raffray, a traditionalist, and Brother Adrien, who engages in close dialogue with traditionalism, is particularly instructive. Those are the young people who rush to register for the pilgrimage to Chartres. And the new converts arriving at the parishes have a Catholicism influenced by the "traditionalists," whom they met online or, if they are from Paris, in person at Saint-Nicolas. Of the 810 baptized at the Easter Vigil in Paris, 77 were baptized in the "traditionalist" parishes of Saint-Eugène, Saint-Nicolas, and Saint-Roch, representing almost 10%. And the rate would be much higher if the traditional practice were more widespread in ordinary parishes.

G. Cuchet concludes: “If it’s a matter of joining a religion, they seem to tell themselves, then better do it all the way, not asking the Church for what the world can offer, but for the sacred (including the liturgy in its pre-Vatican II ‘extraordinary form’), beauty, silence, distance, moral tenets, community life, and hope in the afterlife …Many of these new converts turn to circles linked to liturgy and doctrinal orientations prior to Vatican II, a point the Church avoids emphasizing too much in her communications. (Regarding moral tenets, in traditional parishes they have been told that they had to stop living with their girlfriend or boyfriend in order to then undertake this act of penance for their sins which baptism represents…).

These young people who are arriving and those already there—a small number, it is true, but who represent the future of the Church—"love Latin." This amounts to saying that the pastors deeply influenced by Vatican II, the " vaticandeusards" of yesterday—and those of today—were—and still are—completely mistaken. As I indicated in my letter of April 15, with their ideological contempt for tradition, they were—and still are—disconnected from their faithful, young and old.

I also added in my letter that the participants in the Parisian vigils receive confirmation of this through the congratulations and encouragement they receive from passers-by who see them praying the rosary: at number 10 rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame, Monday to Friday, from 1:00 to 1:30 p.m.; at Saint-Georges de La Villette, at number 114 avenue Simon Bolivar, on Wednesdays and Fridays at 5:00 p.m.; and in front of Notre-Dame du Travail, on Sundays at 6:00 p.m.