At the end of a decade of the Francis pontificate, the Church has grown by nearly 10 percent. Yet the Church performed 2 million fewer baptisms in 2020 than in 2013; marriages declined by nearly a third; confirmations and first Communions dropped by 12 percent and 13 percent, respectively. These declines are not due only to the pandemic, but rather are part of a worldwide trend of declining birth rates. [1]
