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In an interview with the UKs Daily Express, His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols has said that the United Kingdom's return to the Catholic faith is being spearheaded by young men.
When asked about the increase in young people attending Church he said “Most of the priests [in the Diocese of Westminster] say yes, we have seen them—especially 19- to 30-year-olds, and especially men.”
Reflecting on the recent influx of new Catholics in Westminster Diocese, the Cardinal said that at the Easter Vigil in Westminster Cathedral, where 500 were received into the Church, “there were a lot of young people, women as well as men, coming from all sorts of backgrounds.”
He said the Cathedral had welcomed converts with no religious background, as well as those from Islam, the Church of England, and Baptist communities.
When reflecting on why the younger generation are finding their way to the Church, he said young people often become disillusioned with materialism and begin to look for a “better sense of direction”. He explained that the Church, through contact which may begin online and then become in person, offers a community of “purposeful belonging”. He also referenced what is sometimes called aesthetic theism—the idea that upon experiencing beauty, whether inside the Church or in nature, one can sense God.
When asked whether the resurgence could be part of the broader question in the United Kingdom around national identity and the growing anti-immigration sentiment epitomised by the rise of Reform UK, Cardinal Nichols was not convinced. “The parishes in this diocese will have people of 40 different nationalities, so if you go inside the church it looks a bit like the streets outside in terms of ethnicity.”
When asked about Gaza, the Cardinal seemed to take a middle line. He described Hamas in Gaza as “the gang that has been running the prison” and said “what happened on October 7th should never, ever be forgotten”. On the other hand, he noted that “no terrorist organisation has ever been beaten on the battlefield”, and said the Israeli action is not going to undermine Hamas. He also highlighted the apparent evil of Gaza’s inhabitants being starved.
Mentioning racial and religious tensions in the UK, he compared the rise in antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice to the prohibition on Catholicism across the UK 300 years ago, and noted how just as Muslim clerics are nervous about wearing religious garments today, so too were priests during the Penal Laws.
When asked about Trump, he said “he has a way of trying to do a deal and bullying people”.
The Cardianls comments come amidst what is being described as a “quiet revival” of Catholicism in the UK, with large amounts of people returning to and entering the Church, particularly young men.
This Easter, thousands of people across the UK were received into the Catholic Church, with dioceses across Britain noting a marked increase in the number of adult baptisms.
Westminster Diocese received 500 adults into the Church this Easter, half of whom were catechumens—meaning they were not baptised and received the sacrament of baptism along with the other sacraments of initiation. The number represented a 25 per cent increase on the previous year. Southwark, the other Catholic diocese of London, also reported large numbers of adults entering the Church. Four hundred and fifty were received at the Easter Vigil—a decade high.
Alongside this, traditional Catholic communities have seen a particular uptake, with the Oratorians, the Institute of Christ the King, and the Priestly Society of St Peter all expanding their operations across the country.
The increase means that Catholicism could soon overtake Anglicanism to become the country’s largest denomination of worshippers for the first time since the English Reformation initiated by King Henry VIII in 1527. Anglicans could even slip into third place behind Pentecostals among churchgoers under the age of 35.
According to a survey by the Bible Society, in 2018 Anglicans made up 30 per cent of regular churchgoers aged between 18 and 34—including all adult members of Generation Z and the youngest cohort of Millennials—while Catholics made up 22 per cent and Pentecostals 10 per cent. By 2024, Anglicans made up just 20 per cent of this group, while Catholics made up 41 per cent.
