00:00Catholics have dominated international headlines lately.
00:03Most recently, there's been attention paid to Pope Leo's comments about war, which many
00:08have interpreted as criticism of the Trump administration, which also brings attention
00:13to his vice president, J.D. Vance, an enthusiastic and recent convert to Catholicism.
00:19But there's more.
00:20On social media, Catholic influencers appeal to Gen Z audiences, and in different parishes,
00:26there have been reports of a surge of new converts this spring.
00:30In the United States, in France, across Africa, where the religion is growing faster than anywhere
00:35else in the world, Catholicism feels like it's very much having a moment after years
00:41of stories about its decline.
00:42So what gives?
00:44Are we seeing some kind of Catholic revival?
00:47I think maybe that stretches back to the Conclave, or even the Conclave movie coming out, certainly
00:53that drummed up a lot of excitement around Catholicism.
00:56And then at the same time, you have a lot of prominent US political figures who are Catholics
01:01as well.
01:02And then on top of that, we're getting all these reports.
01:05You know, I can't open my Instagram without seeing videos of like young people flocking
01:11to a handful of parishes in Manhattan that are standing room only every Sunday evening.
01:16Um, so definitely it's, it's in the air now, to what extent we can evaluate the causes I
01:22think is difficult to say.
01:24Um, you know, we've been getting a lot of like anecdata, I would call it of, um, you know,
01:31larger numbers of people seeking to enter the Catholic Church, especially this past Easter.
01:35That's Colleen Dully.
01:37She's Vatican correspondent for America magazine and host of the podcast Inside the Vatican.
01:42She's also author of Struck Down, Not Destroyed, Keeping the Faith as a Vatican Reporter.
01:48She says it's too soon to say for sure whether there is a Catholic resurgence.
01:53Anecdotally, yes.
01:54But recent research also shows membership flatlining, though it uses data from a couple of years
01:59ago.
02:00Things might have changed.
02:01What's interesting, she says, is why people seem to be joining the church.
02:06So Cardinal McElroy, the Bishop of Washington, D.C., was quoted in the New York Times saying
02:10that he sees loneliness, particularly among young men, as being a big driver of why people
02:16are joining the church, why young men are joining the church.
02:18Um, I think there's a real hunger for community there.
02:22I think that digital influencers are definitely playing a role.
02:26Um, I think that's definitely the case when we look at this kind of, uh, flood of videos
02:31about these churches in Manhattan, right?
02:33Because now it's, it's a thing to post on social media as well.
02:36If you're wondering why there's so many people walking up Sixth Avenue, it's because we're
02:39all going to mass.
02:42All going to mass.
02:43And certainly there's a number of influencers who cater to those young men who are feeling
02:48lonely and are pushing the message of Catholicism.
02:52Um, so I think that that's one kind of major area.
02:56I think at the same time, COVID led to a lot of re-evaluating for people of what they want
03:04their lives to be like, where they find meaning, um, and kind of a greater awareness of their
03:09spiritual hunger.
03:11And I think that we're seeing kind of an after effect of that, where people are kind
03:16of looking for a community, looking to deepen their spirituality.
03:21It's also simply the fact like throughout history that in times of war and instability,
03:26church attendance always goes up.
03:28Um, so I think that's playing into it as well.
03:30And then I guess the final thing I would mention that I hear from particularly young people
03:35in like their twenties is people are fed up with dating apps.
03:38And so they are like, maybe I can find someone like-minded at church.
03:43And I think that's, that plays into like these parishes that get really popular with young
03:47people because you start to think, okay, this is a place where I can maybe meet someone.
03:51That's the surprising thing that it's young people, Gen Z driving the excitement.
03:57And it's partly because of social media.
04:00So for example, there is this one guy who goes around to different, uh, masses in New York
04:07City, different parishes and rates them.
04:10I forget all of his rating systems, but I think definitely based on, you know, how many
04:15young people there are, I think how the music is.
04:17And then the big one is he always rates the snacks afterwards.
04:24Yeah.
04:25So, you know, food reviews for your, uh, church social.
04:28Um, and then also I see this Irish guy who is going around to different parishes in New
04:34York.
04:34I know they're buying her from my ass.
04:36Absolutely buying her.
04:37Uh, and he says that he's been hearing from people all the time that, you know, their parents
04:42are sending his videos to their, you know, young relatives in New York and urging them
04:47to go back to mass.
04:48And they're there because of him, they say.
04:50And then there's this kind of whole other part of the digital influencer sphere, which
04:55is, you know, you're very like politically conservative, almost manosphere adjacent Catholic
05:01influencers.
05:02So that would be somebody like Taylor Marshall, for example.
05:0410 reasons why I became Catholic and why I love being Catholic.
05:10So that's the Catholic landscape in the United States.
05:13I want to pivot to a continent I mentioned earlier to Africa, where the number of Catholics
05:18has skyrocketed.
05:20The Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda all have massive Catholic populations.
05:27Collectively, the continent now represents 20% of all Catholics globally.
05:32Now, Colleen explained that while the same reasons driving Americans to church might also be
05:37the ones bringing new converts in Africa, there are also certain unique dynamics to the continent.
05:43So there are a few big drivers of growth of Catholicism in Africa.
05:48I think the biggest one, again, to go back to the demographics thing, is simply demographic.
05:53It's that there are much higher birth rates in Africa than in other places in the world.
05:58There's a lot of population growth.
05:59And so you get children born to Catholic parents.
06:03They're then becoming Catholic and driving up the numbers.
06:06I think it's also that the Catholic Church is the most reliable provider of health and
06:11education services in a lot of African countries, in many places, even more so than the government.
06:16And so the church has this long and lasting and reliable presence there.
06:21I do want to make clear it's not the case, as with some other denominations, that you have
06:27to agree to join the Catholic Church to receive those services.
06:30That is not the case here.
06:32And then also, since Vatican II in the 1960s, the Catholic Church has made some real efforts
06:37to enculturate itself.
06:39So there is a rite of the Catholic Mass that is called the Zaire Rite that is specifically
06:43celebrated across the African continent.
06:46And it features a lot of African dance, African songs.
06:49So there's a great sense of ownership of the church, I think, in Africa, whereas I think
06:55maybe some other denominations still feel foreign.
06:59And of course, Pope Leo just made a big papal trip to the continent.
07:04I think he took like 16 flights because he visited 11 cities in 10 days.
07:09And so while he was visiting a Muslim-majority country in Algeria, and I think that part of
07:15the trip was mostly aimed at inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, in the other three
07:19countries he visited, so Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Angola, these are all countries
07:25where they have a Catholic population of note, and where he was trying to encourage that community.
07:32And so I think that, you know, the after effects of that may be that in those countries, the
07:37church grows even stronger.
07:38It'll be interesting to see whether this momentum continues around the world, and how the Catholic
07:43demographic might change over the next few years.
07:46So what are you hearing or seeing?
07:49Do you know any recent converts, or have you noticed this new wave of Catholicism where you're
07:55at?
07:55Let us know in the comments.
07:57That's all for now.
07:58DW News is giving you the latest and also sharing deep dives on here and across the rest of social
08:04media.
08:04I'm Melissa Chan.
08:06Until next time.
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