A mini resurgence may just be taking place in the Church locally and internationally, based on recent numbers of adult baptisms.
Every year the Church welcomes new adult members into the People of God at the Easter Vigil, and in 2025 the number of those new members has reached record heights in several parts of the world.
Locally, the Archdiocese of Melbourne welcomed almost 350 catechumens and candidates at the Rite of Election this year, with the Archdiocese of Sydney welcoming 384 catechumens and candidates from 54 parishes—up from 266 in 2024.
Coordinator of the RCIA in the Archdiocese of Sydney Simon Yeak told The Catholic Weekly, ‘I never could have foreseen the rise in the number of converts coming into the Church, and it’s really a testament to showing where we are as a Church here in Sydney.’
In both Sydney and Melbourne, a significant growth in the number of new Catholics from migrant communities—particularly Indonesian and Chinese communities—was noted.
In Parramatta, where more than 50 adults elected to become Catholic in 2024, Bishop Vincent Long described this year’s number of new members—124—as ‘unprecedented’.
And in the West, the Archdiocese of Perth had 114 catechumens and 81 candidates take part in the Rite of Election, compared with 86 catechumens and 62 candidates in 2024.
Searches for ‘how to become Catholic’ increased by 373 per cent worldwide from Easter Sunday to the following Saturday, reaching their highest number for 20 years.
A glimpse of this trend has also been observed by the Catholic Enquiry Centre, which receives phone and email enquiries from around Australia daily. In 2023, the CEC received 24 enquiries from individuals wishing to become Catholic; in 2024 that number rose to 65. In 2025, the number of enquiries about becoming Catholic is on track to exceed 100, with the CEC receiving 37 enquiries in the first four months of the year.
Similarly, requests for the CEC’s introductory resource, Discovering God and what it means to be Catholic, often requested by individuals discerning whether to become Catholic, have increased substantially. From 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, the CEC received 194 requests for Discovering God, but from 1 July 2024 to 30 April 2025, the centre has already received 324 requests.
Internationally, it has been reported that the USA, England and France have all witnessed major growth in the number of new Catholics this year.
The global trend continued post-Easter, with media outlets reporting that searches for ‘how to become Catholic’ increased by 373 per cent worldwide from Easter Sunday to the following Saturday, reaching their highest number for 20 years.
In April 2025, The Quiet Revival, a research report published by the UK’s Bible Society, boldly asserted in its summary that ‘in churches across society something amazing is happening.’
‘Where once we saw ageing congregations and a steady decline in attendance, we see dramatic growth, led by the young. Where once we saw apathy or even hostility to Christianity and the Bible we see increased openness, again among the young,’ it adds.
While the research notes an overall rise in church attendance across England and Wales, it highlights that the number of Catholics attending church rose from 23 per cent in 2018 to 31 per cent in 2024; with 41 per cent of these being aged between 18 and 34.
Catholic News Agency reported earlier this year that ‘the Catholic Church in England is expecting a decade-high surge of new entrants to the faith’, suggesting the upward trend identified by the Bible Society’s data was continuing.
In France, some 10,384 adults were welcomed into the Church at Easter this year, in addition to more than 7,400 young people aged between 11 and 17—a 45 per cent increase from the 2024 figures, which were previously the highest numbers recorded by the Bishops Conference of France. The number of new adult Catholics in 2025 is almost triple that from 2021. The majority of the increase comes from the 18–40-year-old age bracket.
And in the USA, the National Catholic Register reported that across the country this year, ‘significant increases in converts are common and widespread.’
The exact reasons why the number of new adult Catholics around the world has increased so significantly may not be fully known yet, but regardless, it should serve as a source of hope and encouragement for all people of faith.
This article was originally published on National Evangelisation Centre website, and has been reproduced with permission.
Banner image: Archbishop Peter A Comensoli holds a scroll containing the name of a catechumen at the 2025 Rite of Election at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne. (Photo by James Carrett.)
