The number of French priests being ordained in 2024 has exceeded 2023's numbers as France continues to baffle when it comes to secular trends. <br><br>Ordinations in 2024 will see 105 new priests created in France, reports the French Bishops’ Conference (CEF), 17 more than in 2023, when 88 new priests were ordained. The uptick is all the more notable coming at a time when France often appears to be gripped by hardline secularism.
Social liberalism is increasingly dominant in French politics, resulting in policies spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron that are anathema to Catholic teaching, not to mention basic traditional morality.
As a result, the country increasingly appears representative of the clash in Europe between modern liberal progressivism and the Catholic Church as the guardian of tradition and Christian values. <br><strong><br>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/god-has-undoubtedly-decided-to-take-over-frances-continuing-and-surprising-catholic-shift/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">France’s continuing (and surprising) Catholic shift against secular progressivism</mark></a><br></strong><br>The vast majority of French priestly ordinations this year are being celebrated during the month of June, notes an <a href="https://eglise.catholique.fr/espace-presse/communiques-de-presse/553061-105-nouveaux-pretres-ordonnes-pour-la-france-en-2024/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">article published on the CEF website</mark></a>, especially on the Sunday before the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul that is celebrated 29 June. <br><br>Of the 105 new priests, 73 are diocesan, 16 belong to religious orders, with the remaining 16 split between religious communities, societies of apostolic life and pre-Vatican II institutes, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/258074/the-catholic-church-in-france-will-have-105-new-priests-in-2024"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reports</mark></a> the <em>Catholic News Agency (CNA).</em><br><br>The agency notes that at a press conference, Bertrand Lacombe, the archbishop of Auch and a member of the council for ordained ministers and laypeople in ecclesial mission, highlighted two aspects of the context surrounding these new ordinations: <br><br>“[T]he essential mission of the priest in the Church and the meaning of this mission today within an increasingly secularised French society”, and “the ongoing reflections of the bishops as well as the initiatives launched in the dioceses to raise up vocations".<br><br>The French prelate wished a “beautiful ministry to the priests who are responding to the spiritual expectations of our time", adding that "the adventure is worth the effort and gives light to the world!”<br><br>The French Bishops’ Conference also noted that according to its 2024 Catéchuménat survey, every year there are more adults (especially younger generations) who want to receive baptism, the Eucharist and confirmation.<br><br>Addressing France's newest priests, Archbishop Lacombe highlighted the new generation of young lay people being drawn to the Church, telling those recently ordained that it is also their generation that “they grew up with and matured [with]”, adding that by the new priests administering the sacraments to them, both sides will be nourished. <br><br>The increase in French ordinations coincides with increasing and record numbers of pilgrims attending the Chartres pilgrimage this year. <br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/why-young-people-love-the-chartres-pilgrimage/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Why young people love the Chartres pilgrimage</mark></a></strong><br><br>As Thomas Edwards <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/on-the-road-to-chartres-the-annual-pentecost-pilgrimage-has-lessons-for-the-wider-church/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">notes</mark></a> in his <em>Catholic Herald</em> article about attending the pilgrimage, in addition to the sheer spectacle of such numbers, “even more striking and inspiring was its largely youthful component embracing a <em>pèlerinage de Chrétienté </em>– pilgrimage of Christendom – rooted in ancient tradition.”<br><br>He adds: "What some would label as archaic and irrelevant is in fact finding enthusiastic youthful advocates in today’s Church.”<br><br>Another aspect of French Catholic contemporary life gaining attention is the fact that, <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/biden-in-worse-trouble-than-trump-with-catholic-voters-especially-if-they-go-to-mass/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">similar to the US</mark></a>, the way that Catholics are voting is being influenced by “cultural dissatisfaction”, <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/as-in-us-cultural-dissatisfaction-in-france-driving-voters-with-catholics-turning-to-marine-le-pen/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">notes</mark></a> Gavin Mortimer.
What appears an increasingly militant separation of religion – certainly Christianity – from civil affairs in France, alongside concerns about immigration and Islamic extremism, has led to a surge of support among French Catholics for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally Party. <br><br><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-rampant-anti-catholicism-of-the-french-left/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">The rampant anti-Catholicism of the French Left</mark></a></strong><br><br>The <a href="http://breaking/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">social liberalism</mark></a> that began with Francois Hollande’s Socialist government in 2012 has been continued under Macron, who, while more to the right than Hollande economically, is more of a social progressive, Mortimer notes.
Related policies have included the expansion of medically assisted procreation to lesbian couples and single women, the legalisation of gay marriage, France becoming the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/breaking-news-france-becomes-first-country-in-world-to-make-abortion-a-constitutional-right/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right</mark></a> and <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/euthanasia-in-france-president-macrons-strategy-on-assisted-dying-may-well-backfire/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">the assisted dying bill</mark></a>, which Macron announced earlier this year.<br><br><em>Photo: Seminarians from the Community of St. Martin of Tours prepare an ordination Mass at Notre Dame de l'épine basilica in Evron, France, 24 June 2017. (Photo credit DAMIEN MEYER/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
