For a few days, France — one of Europe’s most secular countries — looked like it was in the throes of a Catholic revival.
An estimated 800,000 people filled the streets for Pope Leo XIV’s outdoor Mass in Paris on Saturday, according to the Vatican. Priests there were seen hearing confessions out in the open, no confessional required.
The night before, roughly 80,000 young people gathered for a lively prayer vigil full of singing and dancing at the Stade de France, the national football and rugby stadium.
In Lourdes, where believers say a famous Catholic shrine gushes with healing waters, streets were crowded with pilgrims waving flags and holding babies aloft as the pope passed in his popemobile. More than 150,000 people attended Sunday Mass there.
This, all in a country where hundreds of clergy were publicly executed during the French Revolution — many by guillotine.
A Catholic revival?
French Ambassador to the Holy See Charles Personnaz described the pope’s visit as a “very living exchange between the pope and the people of France” and said it allowed an “appeal to the young people to engage themselves for peace, not to be afraid of the future.”
“And that is a wondrous sign for the youth of France and everywhere in Europe, in fact,” he said.
The crowds offered a striking welcome for the first American pope. They also raised a question: Is faith making a comeback in France?
Some evidence suggests renewed interest. The French bishops conference counted 21,386 adult and adolescent baptisms at Easter this year. That number included 13,234 adults, up 28% from last year and more than triple the number a decade ago.
Leo made a point to publicly visit some of the newly baptized during his visit.
Still, France has a population of nearly 70 million, and in the latest broad survey from the national statistics agency, 51% of people aged 18 to 59 said they had no religion. Just 29% identified as Catholic.
The same survey showed the fastest-growing religious category was Christians who did not identify as Catholic. Their share rose in the last decade from 2.5% to 9% among 18- to 49-year-olds. Islam rose from 8% to 11% in the same age range.
A number of French laws reflect the gaps between Catholic teaching and public policies and civic values. In 2024, France added a guaranteed freedom to seek an abortion to its constitution. Last month, it enacted a law allowing assisted dying under specified conditions for people with serious, incurable illnesses. Both measures conflict with the Catholic Church’s position on the sanctity of life, and Leo spoke out against both on this trip.
Catholic affiliation also has been falling across much of the West. In the U.S., the share of adults identifying as Catholic dropped from 24% in 2007 to 19% in 2023-24, according to Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study.
The scenes in Paris and Lourdes have visibly inspired Pope Leo and clergy across France. But whether they signal a lasting change in church attendance or religious affiliation remains to be seen.
