The Catholic bishops’ conference of England and Wales recorded 5,432 baptisms of catechumens aged over seven years in 2024, the highest number in over a decade, as Mass attendance continued to show a gradual increase. The Anglican data shows a similar pattern.

This is a 21 per cent rise from 4,494 in 2023, the sharpest increase since 2013, when 4,702 baptisms in this age group were recorded. The 2023 data already showed an increase above prepandemic levels, compared to 2019 when only 4,059 were recorded. More people aged over seven were baptised in 2024 than in any other year in the 11-year period for which data is available, by quite a considerable margin. The number of people baptised in other denominations being received into full communion with Rome also shows an unprecedented 30 per cent increase from 2023 to 2024. The number of adults receiving their First Holy Communion after the age of 18 rose, from 1,850 to 2,659.