Adult baptisms: What’s driving the rise?
Where are adults becoming Catholic this year?
Catholic dioceses across the world are reporting that record numbers of adults are seeking baptism at this year’s Easter Vigil.
What kind of figures are dioceses seeing? And what are the baptismal candidates, known as catechumens, saying about their journeys to the Catholic Church?
The Pillar takes a country-by-country look.
🇦🇹 Austria
What’s happening?
Around 240 adults are preparing to be baptized in Austria’s dioceses this Easter, up from roughly 130 people in 2024, an 85% year-on-year increase. In the Austrian Church, an adult is defined as anyone over the age of 14.
In the Vienna archdiocese, which has reported rising adult baptisms for almost a decade amid an influx of refugees, 118 adults will be baptized at the Easter Vigil, 50 more than in 2024. A third of the catechumens are under the age of 20.
There were approximately 5 million Catholics in Austria in 2021, slightly more than half the country’s population. In that year, there were more than 3,000 parishes in 11 dioceses.
Daniel Vychityl, who oversees the catechumenate for the archdiocese and the Austrian bishops’ conference, said: “In the past, we primarily had baptism candidates between the ages of 20 and 40, but now the adolescent age group represents the largest group, with the majority of them being Austrian citizens.”
What are catechumens saying?
Bettina Farasin decided to be baptized in 2018, at the age of 44 in the city of Linz. She was scheduled to be baptized as a baby but the ceremony was canceled after the sudden death of her godmother, she told the Austrian Church magazine Grüß Gott.
Throughout her adult life, she intended to be baptized but repeatedly postponed the thought. She became involved in her local church and even put her name forward for a seat on the parish council in 2017, but withdrew it because of her unbaptized status.
She began a year-long preparation for the sacrament with her pastor. “That’s when I got to know my faith in a completely new way. I began to understand the Bible in a new way, but also to see prayers like the Creed with different eyes,” she said.
🇦🇺 Australia
What’s happening?
More than 200 catechumens are preparing to be baptized in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. They were joined in March by 150 candidates — who are already baptized but seeking to become Catholics — at what Archbishop Peter Comensoli described as one of the biggest Rite of Election groups at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
There were 7 million Catholics in Australia in 2021, more than one quarter of the population. The country had that year 1,353 parishes, in 30 Latin Catholic dioceses, and five Eastern Catholic eparchies.
What are catechumens saying?
This year’s catechumens include a father named Jason, who said that his eight-year-old daughter Ivy asked one day if she could start going to church.
Neither he nor Ivy’s mother came from religious families. But Jason wanted to support his daughter, so they began attending the local Catholic church, where a parishioner suggested he join the RCIA class.
“I feel weird when we miss Mass. We try to go a few times a week,” he said in a report on the Melbourne archdiocese website. “I enjoy going, but I also get enjoyment from seeing my daughter happy.”
🇧🇪 Belgium
What’s happening?
The number of adult baptisms in Belgium is expected to rise to 536 this year, an almost 50% increase from 2024, when there were 362.
Ten years ago, in 2015, there were 180 adult baptisms, meaning the number has almost tripled over the past decade.
There are notable variations in numbers within Belgium’s nine dioceses. The Diocese of Bruges has the fewest this year (14), while the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels (173) has the most, followed by the Diocese of Tournai (136).
The figures suggest more adult baptisms may be occurring in French-speaking parts of the country than in Flemish-speaking regions. But the main source of the baptisms is in the bilingual capital region around Brussels.
In total, there were 8.3 million Catholics in Belgium in 2021, 72% of the national population, in 3,681 parishes in nine dioceses.
What are catechumens saying?
Maëlle Montoisy, a 22-year-old literature student, did not grow up in a church-going family. But she attended a Catholic school and was influenced by her grandfather, a Mass-goer who offered her words of encouragement, she told the website CathoBel.
After her grandfather died in 2021, she entered a dark period, which ended when she spontaneously decided to attend Mass. At the church, she met a woman called Georgette, who will be her godmother.
“She welcomed me with such kindness. She spoke to me about baptism, as if it were obvious. And little by little, I began this journey,” Montoisy said.
🇨🇦 Canada
What’s happening?
More than 600 catechumens are preparing for baptism in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, as a record number of people prepare to become Catholics.
In all of Canada, there were almost 17 million Catholics in 2021, 44% of the national population, spread across almost 4,000 parishes in 60 Latin Catholic dioceses and 15 Eastern Catholic eparchies.
What are catechumens saying?
Sarah Hurley, a catechumen in the Vancouver archdiocese, said the Rite of Election in March was profoundly moving.
“Stepping into Holy Rosary Cathedral for the Rite of Election felt like entering a sacred embrace, its majestic stained-glass windows glowing with divine light,” she said in a report on the archdiocese’s website.
🇫🇷 France
What’s happening?
A record 17,800 catechumens will be baptized at this year’s Easter Vigil in France, including more than 7,400 young people aged 11 to 17.
France is arguably the country that is driving the growing discussion about a Catholic adult baptism “boom.”
In total, there are 49 million Catholics in 2021, 75% of the national population, in more than 13,000 parishes across almost 100 Latin Catholic dioceses and three Eastern Catholic eparchies.
What are catechumens saying?
Sébastien, 51, grew up in an anti-clerical family, but felt a strong sense of a “benevolent presence” in his youth. At the age of 48, the father of three was out walking when he decided to enter a small church near his house.
“That day, I made the decision to open the door, take the plunge and get baptized,” he told Aleteia.
His parents were unhappy at the decision, but he committed himself to learning about and living out the faith, becoming a volunteer at Secours Catholique – Caritas France.
In 2024, his youngest daughter was baptized. He said: “We talked about it together. It’s a coincidence, but in the end not so much…”
🇲🇳 Mongolia
What’s happening?
When Pope Francis visited Mongolia in 2023, the Vatican estimated there were only 1,394 Catholics in the country that is roughly the size of Alaska. While the numbers are small, the Church is on an upward trajectory, thanks in part to adult baptisms.
What are catechumens saying?
Two of Tserenchimed Chuluunbaatar’s daughters were baptized Catholics at the Easter Vigil in 2023. Each week, they would bring home the Sunday Mass booklet containing the Gospel readings, which Chuluunbaatar, a Buddhist, would examine closely.
“I became interested in the Bible, the Church, and the Christian faith,” the retired finance ministry worker said in an interview with UCA News.
When the family attended the papal Mass in Ulaanbaatar, Chuluunbaatar decided he wanted to be a Catholic. He is due to be baptized April 19, alongside his wife and third daughter.
🇳🇱 Netherlands
What’s happening?
It’s hard to find overall figures for adult baptisms in the Netherlands. But in the Diocese of ’s-Hertogenbosch, 42 catechumens are preparing to be baptized.
There were 4.8 million Catholics in the Netherlands in 2021, less than 30% of the population, in 615 parishes across eight Latin Catholic dioceses and one Eastern Catholic diocese.
What are catechumens saying?
Guusje Peters, 26, did not grow up in a religious family, but she felt there was a higher power and wrestled with spiritual questions. Around a year ago, she entered a “dark time,” she told the Katholiek Nieuwsblad.
“I wondered why this was part of his plan, but decided to surrender completely and made a kind of cry for help in prayer,” said Peters, who lives in a village in the Limburg province.
“It was a dark moment, but I will never forget how a ray of sunlight began to light up the room. A certain warmth and peace came over me, and I knew in that moment that I was being called. That longing only grew stronger as time went by.”
🇪🇸 Spain
What’s happening?
National figures for adult baptisms in Spain in 2025 do not seem to be available. But the Diocese of Getafe, located south of Madrid city center, 33 adults are preparing for baptism. They range in age from 17 to 66, and come not only from Spain but also the Congo, Germany, Peru, Venezuela, and Morocco.
What are catechumens saying?
Irene Casado, a 29-year-old teacher, grew up in a non-religious household. She was introduced to the Catholic faith by a friend and guided later by colleagues, she told the Diocese of Getafe’s magazine, Padre de Todos.
“It has been a process with stages, moments of doubt and others of greater certainty,” she said. “But, little by little, God has been guiding my path and leading me here.”
Asked if her life had changed as a result, she said: “In all senses. My way of seeing things, of facing life, of relating to others... I have found a peace and a joy that I didn't have before.”