Cardinal Farrell: Infant baptisms fell 31%, Catholic weddings fell 48% over 30-year period
April 30, 2026
» Continue to this story on L'Osservatore Romano (Italian)
CWN Editor's Note: In a talk delivered at a Vatican conference on marriage formation, Cardinal Kevin Farrell spoke of steep declines in the number of infant baptisms and weddings worldwide over a 30-year period.
“The transmission of faith within families is weaker now than in the past,” said Cardinal Farrell, the prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. “According to the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2021, between 1991 and 2021, the number of baptisms administered worldwide to children under the age of seven declined by 31.1%, and Catholic marriages by 48%.”
“Faced with these figures, we must not lose heart; rather, we must remain fully aware of them so as to transform this situation into an opportunity for ecclesial renewal,” he added.
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