Until three years ago, Sara Cabral’s faith experience was on trend with other Southern European youth — a “Catholic but never practicing” upbringing with little relevance to her life on Spain’s Canary Islands. Then she listened to a song from a faith youth group that felt as if God were speaking to her. She joined the group, and now in addition to its weekly adoration with music sessions, Cabral is excitedly preparing to attend Pope Leo XIV ’s Mass in Gran Canaria with her friends.“You get a restlessness about an emptiness that you don’t know how to fill,” Cabral, 26, says of her embrace of Catholicism. “God is the one looking for you first, but you need to go meet him.”On trips to Spain this month and France in September, Leo will find thousands of young people like her in these traditionally Catholic but now staunchly secular countries, where historic churches are abundant and Mass attendance is sparse.
Church leaders and some experts see the success of youth movements and the surge in adult baptisms as signs that some young people are showing new interest in the church, while also challenging it to embrace a more inclusive message.“They are drawing near with a look of surprise,” said the Rev. Josetxo Vera, spokesperson for Spain’s Catholic Bishops Conference. “It’s an excellent opportunity that bursts forth from heaven, not from the church.”
