17,000 people were just baptised in France. God is on the move
By 
Tony Wilson2025-05-01T09:44:00
As the French Catholic Church reports record numbers of baptisms over the Easter weekend, Tony Wilson wonders whether the ‘quiet revival’* is also happening outside of the UK
In Catholism, the first mass of Easter is the traditional time for new converts to be baptised. And this year, the Conference of Catholic Bishops in France reported that 17,000 people were welcomed into the Church over the Easter weekend. Widely reported in the secular media as part of the ongoing revival in faith in France, not only is this a relatively large number (the average is just 4,000 per year) but it is also rising year on year.
For example, in the town of Chambéry, in the French Alps, where I celebrated Easter, the numbers have grown from six in 2021, to 19 in 2022, 30 in 2023 and 33 in 2024. This year, they baptised 80 people.
In March, I wrote about the surprising return to faith among the student community of Toulouse. A recent chat with Fr Antoine in the student mission team confirms that they saw 800 people baptised over Easter weekend, with a further…
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