Christianity and the future of Europe

Growing up as a Catholic in the Netherlands, in my formative years between childhood and adulthood, I witnessed the seemingly irreversible process of secularization and the increasing de-Christianization of European society. I never expected in my lifetime to see the halt of those developments or their reversal. Yet this is what I am seeing today – not as a massive and loud movement, but rather a quiet yet decisive rediscovery of the Christian faith and its rich tradition by still relatively small but rapidly growing numbers, mostly of young people from the Gen Z cohort.

The best indicator of this development is the steady rise over the past decade in adolescent and adult baptisms in countries throughout the West. During this year’s Easter Vigil in my hometown in the province of Noord-Brabant, the church was not only packed – with fully engaged people of all ages and life stages attending – but we also celebrated the baptism of 10 young adults. Numbers were much higher in Catholic churches in the bigger cities, especially Amsterdam. This is a sight that was simply unimaginable in my youth and even until some years ago, when churches were rapidly emptying and many closing for good. Now, the same trend of revival is seen all over Europe. Is this renewal sustainable?

A resurgence that defies the odds

The statistics are impressive. Over the past 10 years, France has seen a 160 percent growth in adolescent and adult baptisms. Some 17,800 French adolescents and adults received their baptism in 2024 alone. This is a 45 percent rise compared to 2023. The United Kingdom saw the highest number of adult baptisms in over a decade in 2024, whilst church attendance amongst the 18-24 age group grew from 4 percent in 2018 to 16 percent in 2024. Austria saw an 85 percent increase in baptisms from 2023 to 2024.

These numbers seem surprising at first sight. The public discourse in Europe and especially the political climate – with few national exceptions – is still decidedly post-Christian and at times even anti-Christian. Through detailed and carefully triangulated research conducted since 2005, the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe has documented patterns of discrimination that receive little public attention. Over the past 20 years, discrimination and marginalization of Christians in Europe have steadily increased, with an increasing share involving violent acts. For example, few people on the continent are aware that close to 100 arson attacks on Christian churches were recorded in 2024, which is almost double the previous year’s total. One-third of these deliberate acts of vandalism occurred in Germany alone.

So, if we look at these two seemingly contradictory developments of revival and regression, what can be expected of the role of Christianity in European society in the years to come? Has Christianity been written off too soon or is its decline still irreversible? Do Christians living their faith still have a role to play in society?

Resilience in the face of adversity

A first answer to these questions can be found in the past: Despite the Christian faith being by far the most persecuted religion throughout history – whether by the Roman emperors in the first centuries after Christ or by Islamists and communists today, it has not only survived but ultimately flourished. Globally, the Christian population continues to grow significantly. Between 1990 and 2024 alone, its number increased from 1.9 billion to 2.6 billion, with Africa showing the largest growth.

This means that a small ragtag band of 12 men following Jesus over 2,000 years ago grew into what is today the largest religious movement in history. This has occurred despite the sustained efforts of various regimes and ideologies, throughout history and up to the present day, to root out the Gospel’s message and marginalize its followers. A telling example is Poland. In the post-war period of communist totalitarian rule, the regime worked very hard to undermine, discriminate and persecute Christians and the Catholic Church. Despite this, the Polish Church remained an irrepressible force and influence to be reckoned with. It also brought forth a Polish Pope, John Paul II, who after his election in 1978 went on to become the most formidable opponent of communism in Europe. He was one of the main actors in bringing down the Iron Curtain in 1989 after the peaceful liberation of Central and Eastern Europe from the communist yoke.

A second answer to these questions can be found in the brilliant words of Pope Benedict XVI during his historic Berlin speech at the German Parliament in September 2011, where he observed:

How do we recognize what is right? In history, systems of law have almost always been based on religion: Decisions regarding what was to be lawful among men were taken with reference to the divinity. Unlike other great religions, Christianity has never proposed a revealed law to the State and to society, that is to say a juridical order derived from revelation. Instead, it has pointed to nature and reason as the true sources of law – and to the harmony of objective and subjective reason, which naturally presupposes that both spheres are rooted in the creative reason of God.

This means that what the Christian tradition has to offer Europe is not just one religion amongst many, but a firm foundation in nature and reason as the guiding principle. This has been the basis of its success over many centuries. The Christian message, according to Benedict, does not impose a new system of governance – as for example Islam does through Sharia law – but emphasizes instead the need to base our actions on what is in accordance with the natural created order in which we find ourselves as human beings, and the consistent use of reason. The concept of human dignity, enshrined in our European legal system since the end of World War II, but dating back much longer, was brought about by this fundamental understanding of what it means to be human. Christianity in Europe will keep this notion alive for generations to come.

A third answer to these questions can be found, not in the rise of political parties and movements in the West today that often instrumentalize so-called “cultural Christianity” for their strategic ends, but rather in observing the steadily increasing numbers of young people that are no longer attracted by the shrill ideological orthodoxies of modern society. These loud ideologies make life dependent on the fulfillment of every wish, whim and feeling and the permanent victimization of every person or group that has ever suffered an injustice. More young people are discovering that these ideologies do not lead to fulfillment and happiness but rather to violence, despair and loneliness. They are looking instead for a consistent message that gives hope, provides a coherent moral framework and offers fellowship and community.

Increasingly, they find this in the Christian tradition, through its sacred, timeless texts and liturgies, its sense of beauty and the incessant call to take personal responsibility for one’s life and for those that have been entrusted to our care. In Christian churches and educational institutions, they encounter fellow human beings that have understood the message of how to live a joyful life of service, charity and sacrifice. In the words of the great statesman and Pope Saint John Paul II, they discover there the liberating notion of what true human freedom means: “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”

These three answers are just some indicators of how Christianity in its enduring resilience and unrelenting consistency of message will continue to shape the future of Europe. To illustrate this point, by way of example one only needs to look at the outsized role the popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis and Leo XIV have been playing over the past decades, far beyond the remit of the Catholic Church.

Despite all its many claimed economic and political successes, Europe still desperately needs moral clarity amongst the self-created ruins of moral relativism, war and overregulation; the last phenomenon being a dramatically failed attempt to fill the gaping hole left by our moral relativism, whilst replacing common sense with compliance and conformism. The future of Europe and its institutions of democracy, the rule of law and prosperity will be decided not by moralizing bureaucrats in Brussels but by the lived dignity, the sense of justice and the deep understanding of true freedom that is carried in the hearts, minds, families and thriving communities of the millions of Europeans who have not rejected their Christian identity and who are once again finding solace and inspiration from it.

This material was originally published here: https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/christianity-europe/