The number of people, primarily young adults, converting to Catholicism is on the rise across the United States, and one church leader said it is because there is a longing for something only faith can answer.
Bishop Robert Barron told Fox News the church broke the record in 2025 for the number of adult converts and again this year.
“So, it’s a trend that’s visible all over the church and it’s certainly been true in my diocese,” he said. The outlet noted the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, reported 1,701 people were preparing to join the church, while others in Cleveland, Ohio, Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Oregon, also reported an increase in numbers, the outlet said Sunday.
A report in April said waves of young people were flocking to Catholic Churches across the nation, and months later the Vatican news agency Fides shared statistics showing a boom in the Catholic populations of Asia and Africa.
Another report in May found that more and more young people in America and other western countries were embracing Christianity after a Pew Research poll found its decline in America appeared to have slowed, according to Breitbart News.
In addition, U.S. Christian/gospel music surged in 2025, the outlet said, adding, “The growth defies some reports that have previously claimed Christianity is on the decline in the America.”
According to the Fox article, Catholic ministries on college campuses were reporting rising numbers when it came to converts, and Barron said many adults have expressed they were “hungry for truth.”
He added, “St. Augustine said, ‘Lord, you’ve made us for yourself, and therefore our heart is restless till it rests in you,’ and that remains true. There’s a longing in the heart that can’t be satisfied by anything in this world, and so religion speaks to that.”