- A new people is knocking at the door: the catechumenal challenge
- The phenomenon in numbers: a grace that exceeded expectations
- The institutional response: the provincial council of Île-de-France
- What catechumens reveal about the Church
- Renewing worship: the liturgy as the lifeblood of the Church
- «Living in God’s rhythm»: a national day for a Church in search of rhythm
- The constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, still relevant today
- Liturgy and catechumenate: two inseparable dynamics
- Solidarity and dialogue: the French Church facing the world
- The Work of the East: 170 years of fidelity to persecuted Christians
- The Universal Church and the Christians of the East: The Perspective of Leo XIV
- The 40th anniversary of Assisi: interreligious dialogue put to the test by the world
- Overall coherence: what 2026 reveals about the Church in France
- ✝ Biblical references
By Easter 2026, more than 21,000 adults and teenagers had been baptized in France. This represents an increase of 281 for adults and 101 for teenagers compared to the previous year. Over ten years, the increase exceeds 1,601. These figures, which would have seemed unbelievable in the early 2010s, raise a theological and pastoral question of rare urgency: is the Church in France, often described as besieged by secularization, experiencing a genuine spiritual springtime? And above all, is it institutionally ready to embrace it?
The year 2026 leaves no time for contemplation. An exceptionally dense ecclesiastical calendar—provincial council, national liturgical day, anniversary of the Œuvre d'Orient, meeting in Assisi—outlines the contours of a Church in motion, striving, with its vital strengths and inherited vulnerabilities, to respond to the world's call. It is precisely this intertwining of received grace and institutional responsibility that constitutes the guiding thread of this extraordinary year. Saint Paul already wrote to the Corinthians: «"We are co-workers with God"» (1 Cor 3:9). This Gospel reminder has lost none of its urgency.
A new people is knocking at the door: the catechumenal challenge
The phenomenon in numbers: a grace that exceeded expectations
For several years, this surge has continued to surprise, running counter to the prevailing secularization and the crises testing the Church in France. In 2025, more than 17,800 catechumens, adults and teenagers combined, received baptism during the Easter Vigil, marking an increase of 451 per cent compared to the previous year. In 2026, this total number is expected to exceed 20,000. What sociologists of religion struggle to explain, pastors interpret as a sign of the times, an invitation to take seriously what the Spirit directs where it wills (cf. Jn 3:8).
Pope Leo XIV himself spoke strongly on this subject, declaring that «"The absolutization of well-being has not brought the expected happiness."». This statement, made in the context of universal catechesis, resonates particularly strongly in France, where the cultural groundwork of a post-1968 materialism is showing its anthropological limitations. Many of these newly baptized are in their forties, engineers, teachers, artists—people who had everything according to worldly standards, and who freely chose to knock on the Church's door.
The institutional response: the provincial council of Île-de-France
In response to this momentum, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris made a historic decision. On behalf of the bishops of Île-de-France, he announced in April 2025 the opening of a provincial council dedicated to catechumens and neophytes. The chosen theme is a program in itself: «"Catechumens and neophytes: new perspectives for the life of our Church in our dioceses"». The grand opening celebration will take place on Sunday, May 31, 2026 at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, in the presence of the delegates called upon to take part in the work of the conciliar assembly.
A provincial council, it should be remembered, is a canonical event of considerable importance. It brings together the bishops of a single ecclesiastical province to deliberate, discern, and issue pastoral norms that are binding on the dioceses concerned. The council assembly will meet three times during the 2026-2027 pastoral year, with a view to drafting a final document that will be sent to Rome for approval. One has to go back a long way in the history of the Church in France to find a precedent of such magnitude in the diocese of Paris. Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger led diocesan synods in the 1980s, but a provincial council of this nature is an institutional rarity that testifies to the seriousness with which the bishops perceive the issue at stake.
What catechumens reveal about the Church
Father Christoph Theobald, a renowned Jesuit theologian, often emphasized that newcomers to the faith also reveal the state of the Church that welcomes them. Their presence raises concrete and daunting questions: how can we provide lasting accompaniment to baptized adults who, for the most part, did not grow up in a Christian environment? How can we prevent baptism from being experienced as an end point rather than a starting point? How can we ensure that the parish community is truly transformed by welcoming these brothers and sisters who arrive with their questions, their fresh perspective, and their faith, often more ardent because it is freely chosen?
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna and a leading figure in contemporary theology, has emphasized in several addresses that the catechumenate is not merely a doctrinal school, but a mystagogical journey in the fullest sense of the word—an initiation into the mystery of Christ that engages the entire community. By welcoming catechumens, the Church is itself called to renewal. It is in this sense that the provincial council of Île-de-France takes on a prophetic dimension that transcends purely organizational concerns.
Renewing worship: the liturgy as the lifeblood of the Church
«Living in God’s rhythm»: a national day for a Church in search of rhythm
On May 6, 2026, the National Day of Liturgical and Sacramental Pastoral Care invites diocesan leaders, priests, deacons and pastoral animators to gather around a theme of astonishing relevance: «Living in God’s rhythm». This day, organized at the House of the Conference of Bishops of France, will be held from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. It is part of the ongoing work of the liturgical and sacramental pastoral department, the department of the Conference of Bishops which ensures the quality, coherence and vitality of Catholic worship in France.
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The chosen theme is not insignificant. «Living in God’s rhythm» This suggests that the Church perceives a real risk: that of allowing its rhythm to be dictated by the world's emergencies, by the logic of efficiency and immediacy, to the detriment of what Christian tradition calls kairos—God's time, the time of grace, time that is not measured in minutes but in the depth of conversion. The Book of Ecclesiastes had already laid out the terms of this mystery: «"There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven."» (Ecclesiastes 3:1). It is precisely this relationship to sacred time that the liturgy is meant to structure in the lives of believers.
The constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, still relevant today
It is important to recall here the foundational teaching of the Second Vatican Council. In the constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, The Council Fathers had affirmed that the liturgy is «"the summit towards which the Church's action tends and at the same time the source from which all its virtue flows"» (SC 10). This definition, often cited but rarely lived in all its radicality, constitutes the constant compass of all liturgical pastoral work. The question posed on May 6 is therefore not only practical—how to celebrate better?—but properly theological: what is the relationship of the believing community to the time of grace?
Pope Benedict XVI, in his apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (2007), had insisted on the need for a ars celebrandi — an art of celebration — that cannot be reduced to a technique, but that arises from inner contemplation. Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, devoted a significant part of his teaching to reminding us that the liturgy is first and foremost a mystery received before it is an action performed. These two complementary perspectives — that of Benedict XVI and that of Cardinal Sarah — outline the coordinates of the liturgical renewal that the Church in France seeks to embody in 2026.
Liturgy and catechumenate: two inseparable dynamics
It is impossible to separate the liturgical question from the catechumenal question. The 21,000 newly baptized this year will only be fully integrated into the life of the Church if the liturgy they experience is vibrant, coherent, and beautiful. The theologian Louis-Marie Chauvet, one of the leading French figures in sacramental theology, has shown in his work that the rite does not function as a mere vehicle for doctrinal information, but as a comprehensive symbolic act that engages the body, time, community, and language. A catechumen who enters a poorly prepared celebration, one that is rushed in its gestures or lacking in chant, inadvertently receives a negative ecclesiological message. Conversely, a liturgy celebrated with care and joyful solemnity is itself a catechesis on the transcendence of God.
This is why the National Day of May 6th is not a peripheral event in the 2026 Church calendar: it is central to an effort to ensure coherence between the welcoming of catechumens and the quality of the sacramental life offered to them. Archbishop Pascal Wintzer of Poitiers, long committed to liturgical formation, has consistently advocated for the liturgy to be perceived not as a ritual constraint but as the privileged space for encountering the living God.
Solidarity and dialogue: the French Church facing the world
The Work of the East: 170 years of fidelity to persecuted Christians
On Sunday, May 10, 2026, at the newly restored Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, a solemn Mass will mark the 170th anniversary of the Œuvre d'Orient (Work of the East). It will be presided over by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris, Ordinary for Eastern Catholics in France, in the presence of Bishop Hugues de Woillemont, Director General of the Œuvre. Founded in 1856, this institution is one of the oldest French Catholic organizations dedicated to helping Christians in the Middle East. Today, it is active in 23 countries—in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, Eastern Europe, and India.
This anniversary comes at a particularly painful geopolitical and humanitarian time for the Christian communities of the East. Wars, persecutions, and population displacements have, for several decades, considerably reduced the Christian presence in lands that were the very cradle of Christianity. Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon: these names resonate in Christian memory as places of martyrs and confessors of the faith. Saint Paul wrote to the Galatians: «Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.» (Gal 6, 2). This apostolic injunction constitutes the theological foundation of all inter-ecclesial solidarity, and the Œuvre d'Orient is one of its most lasting expressions in the history of the Church of France.
The Universal Church and the Christians of the East: The Perspective of Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV repeatedly demonstrated a particular concern for minority Christian communities throughout the world. His catechesis of March 18, 2026, focused on Lumen Gentium And the common priesthood of the baptized can be read as a fundamental theological reminder: all the baptized, whether they live in Paris or Baghdad, Lyon or Damascus, share the same filial dignity and the same prophetic vocation. This ecclesiology of communion has immediate practical consequences: it obliges the Western Churches, rich in their renewed human and financial resources, not to retreat into a spiritual prosperity that would turn its back on the suffering of their Eastern members.
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, long-time Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, was one of the most active architects of this institutional solidarity between Rome and the Christians of the East. His testimony, as well as that of Patriarch Ignatius Yusuf III Younan, Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church, reminds us how absurd and even scandalous it would be to celebrate a catechumenal boom in France without simultaneously strengthening the bonds of communion with these brothers and sisters who pay for their faith with their blood.
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Access the folder →The 40th anniversary of Assisi: interreligious dialogue put to the test by the world
Autumn 2026 will mark the 40th anniversary of the International Meeting for Peace in Assisi, scheduled for October 9-12. Organized since 1986 by the Sant'Egidio Community in the spirit inspired by Pope John Paul II, this meeting brings together representatives of the world's major religions around a common act: praying for peace, each according to their own tradition. In 1986, John Paul II gathered some 130 religious leaders from different traditions in Assisi, in a prophetic gesture that many initially viewed with suspicion.
Forty years later, the world is not at peace. Armed conflicts are multiplying, religious nationalisms are intensifying, and Christian communities remain targeted in many parts of the world. And yet, the spirit of Assisi endures. As John Paul II himself stated in his 1986 address: «Peace is a project open to all.». This conviction is not naive — it is theologically based on the belief that God, in creating humanity in his image and likeness, inscribed in every human being a desire for peace and communion which precedes all religious and cultural divisions.
For the Church in France, the 40th anniversary of Assisi is an invitation to rediscover its vocation to dialogue. The Conference of Bishops of France, through its office for relations with Muslims and its commission for relations with Jews, maintains genuinely strong ties with the other religious traditions present in the country. But peace cannot be decreed in official statements: it is built patiently, neighborhood by neighborhood, relationship by relationship, where believers of different traditions agree to get to know one another and work together for the common good.
Overall coherence: what 2026 reveals about the Church in France
It would be reductive to view these four events—the provincial council, the liturgical day, the anniversary of the Œuvre d'Orient, and Assisi—as a mere accumulation of celebrations. Together, they form a picture of remarkable theological coherence. The Church in France welcomes thousands of newly baptized members, seeks to nourish them with a renewed liturgy, proclaims its solidarity with persecuted Christians in the East, and reaffirms its commitment to peace with all people of goodwill. This is a program of apostolic ambition that deserves to be recognized as such, beyond the internal controversies and institutional crises that often monopolize media attention.
Father Yves Congar, a French Dominican and one of the key architects of Vatican II, used to say that the Church lives by its faith, not by its structures. Structures are certainly necessary—a provincial council, a national day, an anniversary celebration do not exist in a vacuum. But they only have meaning if they spring from a living faith and serve it. In 2026, the Church in France seems to have understood this lesson. At the Saint-Sulpice parish in Paris, some 150 catechumens and confirmands were preparing to enter into the mystery of faith. These faces, these stories, these conversions—this is what gives substance to all the institutional events of this exceptional year.
Sources
- Conference of Bishops of France, Catechumenate Survey 2026, March 2026
- The Cross, "In France, towards a new boom in catechumens in 2026?", February 26, 2026
- Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, December 4, 1963
- Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, November 21, 1964
- Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, February 22, 2007
- Leo XIV, General Audience, catechesis on Lumen Gentium, March 18, 2026
- Community of Sant'Egidio, archives of the International Meeting for Peace, 1986-2026
- Zenit.org, «What awaits Pope Leo XIV in 2026», January 2026
- Louis-Marie Chauvet, Symbol and Sacrament, Cerf, Paris, 1987
- Yves Congar, True and false reform in the Church, Cerf, Paris, 1950 (reissued 1968)
✝ Biblical references
3 passages · 3 books
If I do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)
Unity of the Church, ethical problems and a hymn to charity for the Corinthian community.
→ Explore the Codex 1 Corinthians- Between Compostela and the void: Spain at the time of Leo XIV's mission
- The Spirit that blows where it wills — Leo XIV at Pentecost, one year after the fire
- The Forgotten Man: When the Crisis of the World Reveals a Crisis of the Soul
- «"Our heart is restless until it rests in You": Saint Augustine, 4th-century theologian and guiding light of the pontificate of Leo XIV
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
A philosophical reflection on the meaning of life, work and time in the face of death.
→ Explore the Codex Ecclesiastes
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. (Galatians 2:20)
Liberation from the Law through faith: against legalism, for life according to the Spirit.
→ Explore the Codex Galates- The word that liberates: Leo XIV and the humanist vocation of literature
- The Pope's voice in the face of a world in flames: Sahel, Copts, and hantavirus, three appeals for a single hope
- Leo XIV in Spain: A pilgrim of the future in the land of a wounded faith
- When the Church builds bridges: Catholic Relief Services between Lebanon and Africa, or charity as geography
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