Pope Leo XIV meets a moment of moral hunger
Rising attendance and new converts reflect a search for meaning in a culture unsettled by politics and disconnection.
On Easter Sunday, I did not go to Mass. But I thought about it.
That thought puts me, a lapsed Catholic, closer to understanding a trend, if not yet fully joining in with it.
The Roman Catholic Church is on a roll, with new converts flocking to Mass and attendance growing, The New York Times reported.
According to The Washington Post, some young men have been drawn to the church as they seek “truth, beauty, discipline and meeting a pretty girl at Mass.” For young people, church attendance could be a path to finding love or at least to a meaningful human connection in a world of mindless scrolling. But I think it signals something more profound — the desire to reconnect with a moral universe. Faced with the unbending immorality of our current political leaders, people are open to a voice that forces us to think about where the line between right and wrong should be drawn.
For me, that voice belongs to Pope Leo XIV and what the first American pope has been saying about the ethics of immigration and war policies promoted by President Trump. This Easter, the contrast between the two couldn’t be sharper.
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On Truth Social, Trump posted a profane message regarding the war with Iran, writing, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the [expletive] Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Meanwhile, in his Easter address, Leo condemned violence and called for peace and dialogue.
“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil,” Leo told the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
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Leo has previously spoken out against Trump immigration policies, and in his Palm Sunday address seemed to rebuke Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth by calling out leaders with “hands full of blood.”
None of that changes the issues that led me to stay away from Mass. The church still opposes abortion and gay marriage. Revelations about clergy sexual abuse have not magically disappeared. According to a recent report released by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, priests in that state abused hundreds of children for decades, and not enough has been done to address it.
Yet despite those points of contention, I still feel a desire to somehow connect in a spiritual way, and apparently, I’m not alone in experiencing that urge.
Echoing the trend in other parts of the country, the Archdiocese of Boston has experienced a surge in non-Christians becoming Catholic during Easter season, according to Terrence Donilon, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese. In 2023, there were 299. Last year, there were 438. This year, there were 680.
What’s the reason? “Probably a combination of factors, including a fundamental need to be closer to God,” Donilon told me via email.
Donilon said that church leaders like Archbishop Richard Henning primarily attribute that urge to “the Spirit of the Lord.”
But is there also a “Pope Leo effect”?
“Yes,” Donilon said. “It’s not just being the First American Pope; it is that he has captured a sense of community with Catholics across the world and very clearly in the US Catholic Church. The wave had been growing before his election but is now picking up speed and size.”
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But it’s not all Leo.
Families with young children, as well as young people, have been showing up at Mass and other church-connected events in search of community and spiritual connection. A young adult group connected to Gate of Heaven Parish and St. Brigid Parish in South Boston attracts about 200 people every Wednesday night, Donilon said.
With college-age young people, there is “a profound openness to the big questions,” the Rev. Eric Cadin, director of vocations with the Archdiocese, said via email. “This includes questions such as, where do I come from? What is my purpose? What does all this mean? More importantly, so many who are exposed to division and even cruelty, especially online, as well as in real life, are actively resisting and moving away from that.”
In a world that seems to be out of control, it makes sense that young people especially are looking for connection, guidance, and a sense of morality. Little of that exists in the online world. And it surely doesn’t exist in the chaotic and polarizing behavior embraced by Trump, as witnessed on Easter Sunday, when he managed to alienate people of all faiths.
As Aristotle said, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Who will fill the moral vacuum that exists under Trump’s leadership? Especially under Leo, there is opportunity for the Catholic Church to be the moral force that fills it, for people of all faiths — including lapsed Catholics.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at joan.vennochi@globe.com. Follow her @joan_vennochi.
