{"id":131409,"date":"2025-09-27T07:28:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T07:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?p=131409"},"modified":"2026-10-22T09:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T09:08:16","slug":"why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is France&#8217;s Gen Z turning to Catholicism?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dailymotion-player\"><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/x1ee8e.js\" data-video=\"k30RQWQMBGvbhvKrkxQ\"><\/script><\/div><br><br><p>\nAs France prepares for Pope Leo XIV&#8217;s visit, a surprising trend has emerged in recent years: the number of baptisms among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed. More than 21,000 catechumens, those undergoing the period of preparation for baptism into the Christian Church, have been recorded so far in 2026. How can this renewed interest in the Catholic faith be explained? Florence Gaillard reports for France in Focus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As France prepares for Pope Leo XIV&#8217;s visit, a surprising trend has emerged in recent years: the number of baptisms among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed. More than 21,000 catechumens, those undergoing the period of preparation for baptism into the Christian Church, have been recorded so far in 2026. How can this renewed interest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gam_disable_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1076],"tags":[8935,403,37387],"class_list":["post-131409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-catholicism","tag-france","tag-gen-z"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why is France&#039;s Gen Z turning to Catholicism? - GuardianTV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As France prepares for Pope Leo XIV&#039;s visit, a surprising trend has emerged in recent years: the number of baptisms among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why is France&#039;s Gen Z turning to Catholicism? - GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As France prepares for Pope Leo XIV&#039;s visit, a surprising trend has emerged in recent years: the number of baptisms among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-27T07:28:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-22T09:08:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\"},\"headline\":\"Why is France&#8217;s Gen Z turning to Catholicism?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-27T07:28:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-22T09:08:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":81,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Catholicism\",\"france\",\"Gen Z\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why is France's Gen Z turning to Catholicism? - GuardianTV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-27T07:28:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-22T09:08:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"As France prepares for Pope Leo XIV's visit, a surprising trend has emerged in recent years: the number of baptisms among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":405,\"caption\":\"Why is France's Gen Z turning to Catholicism?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why is France&#8217;s Gen Z turning to Catholicism?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"GuardianTV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\",\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/author\\\/abiodun\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why is France's Gen Z turning to Catholicism? - GuardianTV","description":"As France prepares for Pope Leo XIV's visit, a surprising trend has emerged in recent years: the number of baptisms among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why is France's Gen Z turning to Catholicism? - GuardianTV","og_description":"As France prepares for Pope Leo XIV's visit, a surprising trend has emerged in recent years: the number of baptisms among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed.","og_url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/","og_site_name":"GuardianTV","article_published_time":"2025-09-27T07:28:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-22T09:08:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":405,"url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abiodun Ogundairo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abiodun Ogundairo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/"},"author":{"name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1"},"headline":"Why is France&#8217;s Gen Z turning to Catholicism?","datePublished":"2025-09-27T07:28:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-22T09:08:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/"},"wordCount":81,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg","keywords":["Catholicism","france","Gen Z"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/","name":"Why is France's Gen Z turning to Catholicism? - GuardianTV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-27T07:28:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-22T09:08:16+00:00","description":"As France prepares for Pope Leo XIV's visit, a surprising trend has emerged in recent years: the number of baptisms among teenagers and young adults has skyrocketed.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/w720-p16x9-FRMG-CEF-EGLISE-260921-2027-Ep-3-transfer.jpg","width":720,"height":405,"caption":"Why is France's Gen Z turning to Catholicism?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/why-is-frances-gen-z-turning-to-catholicism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why is France&#8217;s Gen Z turning to Catholicism?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","name":"GuardianTV","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization","name":"GuardianTV","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","width":600,"height":96,"caption":"GuardianTV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1","name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/author\/abiodun\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131413,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131409\/revisions\/131413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}