Pope Leo XIV visited France, calling for a missionary conversion of the nation’s clergy. The visit comes as the Catholic Church in France faces a steep decline in traditional belonging but sees a surprising rise in adult baptisms.
The Holy Father’s arrival in France was preceded by significant media attention, including a cover story in Paris Match describing him as the pope who intends to win over the country. An estimated 800,000 people signed up to attend his scheduled appearances, including a mass on the Champs-Elysées on Saturday and a gathering at the Stade de France north of Paris on Friday, according to Yahoo.
Notre Dame de Paris and the Call for Liturgical Renewal
Speaking at the Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame de Paris, seven years after a fire devastated the structure, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians, and consecrated men and women. He urged these clergy and religious to be inspired by the vision of missionary conversion set out by Pope Francis in his encyclical Evangelii gaudii.
The Pope framed the rebuilt church as an opportunity for encounter with those on the peripheries, who may seem far away but are in some ways already near to Christ and the Church.
He stated that the beauty of the newly rebuilt church speaks to our restless hearts and calls them to peace,
and suggested the cathedral’s renewal could inspire all French regions to adopt a simple and welcoming missionary presence
that can harmonize cultural differences and heal divided societies.
At the same time, Pope Leo reminded those present that Notre Dame is intended primarily to be a place of prayer and worship, noting that without the liturgy, the church would lose its soul, as Pope Leo XIV notedPope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo XIV emphasized the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council and demanded that clergy prioritize communion with the Successor of Peter over personal preferences to maintain unity. He described the liturgy as a living organism that allows the Church to tell each person the reason for its existence. He called for those charged with the liturgy to offer celebrations with dignity and reverence, even when smaller communities gather,
and urged them to be conscious heirs of the Church Fathers and saints.
Concluding his message, the Pope thanked the attendees for their fidelity and encouraged them to remain close to God in prayer. He stated that the Basilica of Notre Dame has been reborn so that you too may be reborn with it in a new impetus towards holiness and daily mission,
and prayed that Mary might be the star that guides the mission of the Church in France.
The French ‘Laboratory’ of Secularism
While the Pope calls for spiritual rebirth, the institutional Church in France is struggling against a deep-seated secular model known as laïcité, which separates religion and state while ensuring equal treatment of all religions. François Mabille, head of the Geopolitical Observatory of Religion at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (Iris), describes the French Church as a laboratory for trends appearing across the West.
The data reflects a church with diminishing social and political power. France recently enshrined the right to abortion into its constitution and passed legislation allowing assisted dying in specific cases, developments Mabille says highlight a contradiction between current societal evolution and the goals of the Catholic Church. Mabille notes that the Catholic Church in France is a weak church with no more social or political influence in French society.
- Less than a third of the population identifies as Catholic.
- Only around 5 percent describe themselves as practicing.
- Approximately half of the population claims no religious affiliation.
- Priestly ordinations for the year totaled just over 80, leaving the church reliant on around 3,000 foreign priests, 2,400 of whom are from Africa.
Shift from Inherited to Chosen Faith
Despite the institutional decay, a slight rebound or awakening is appearing among young people. While infant baptisms have plummeted from 90 percent in the early 1960s to around 20 percent today, adult baptisms are climbing. About 20,000 adults and adolescents have been baptized so far this year, a figure expected to reach 26,000 by December.
This shift suggests that Catholicism in France is no longer a family inheritance but a deliberate choice.
| Convert Background | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Atheist or agnostic families | 40 percent |
| Culturally Catholic families | 30 percent |
| Other religions (mostly Muslim) | 11 percent |
For some, like 24-year-old Miteki Requin, the turn to faith followed personal loss; she described feeling comfort that she would one day join her Catholic grandmother “in paradise. Others, like a young man named Ewen—whose mother is Muslim and whose father's family is atheist—cited a search for meaning following difficulties, stating,
I felt that something was missing for me to really be part of the Christian family.” Mabille notes that this trend, which began in 2021, may be linked to an increase in mental health issues following the Covid pandemic.
The central tension remains whether this uptick in adult converts can offset the systemic decline of the priesthood and the loss of political influence. As Mabille notes, the global pastoral organization of the Church in France will have to change to accommodate those who choose the faith as adults, though it remains unclear exactly how that transition will occur.