New Pope tops 2025 religion stories

What were the top religion stories of 2025? If you go by the amount of media attention, the number one choice is clear: The death of Pope Francis and the surprise election of Pope Leo of the U.S.

The consensus seems to be that the Roman Catholic Church, by choosing Leo, chose to follow the synodal path set by Francis — but at a slower pace. If Francis was seen to be a pope who was willing to go fast and break things, Leo is seen as someone who will continue in that direction, but more slowly and systematically.

Another top religion story was the election of Sarah Mullally as Archbishop of Canterbury — the first woman to lead the worldwide Anglican Communion. Her election led to another big story that hasn’t received much media attention: The potential schism in the Anglican church.

The split is being led by a group called the Global Anglican Future Conference, or GAFCON, a conservative movement made up primarily of Anglicans in Africa. Founded in 2008, GAFCON objects to women in leadership and affirmation of same-sex relationships — things they consider unbiblical. In March, GAFCON will hold a meeting in Nigeria to decide whether to stay or go.

Another important story was a report from the Pew Research Center that found that Sub-Saharan Africa has become the part of the world with the largest number of Christians. It also found that Christianity remains the world’s largest religion, but Islam grew the fastest in the decade ending in 2020.

The persecution of people because of their religion continued in 2025, even if it didn’t get much attention. This included in China, which increased its crackdown on churches by demolishing buildings, removing crosses and prosecuting clergy. In Iran, members of the Baha’i faith continued to be targeted by that country’s government, while Jehovah’s Witnesses were imprisoned in Russia.

The Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church, a Roman Catholic organization that tracks religious persecution, found that over 5.4 billion people live in countries where religious freedom is seriously violated.

2025 also saw some significant anniversaries, such as the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD at which the Nicene Creed was developed to define core Christian beliefs. Also celebrating in 2025 were Mennonites, who marked the 500th anniversary of the start of the Anabaptist movement in Europe. And in Canada, the United Church marked 100 years as a denomination.

One story that kept popping up in Christian and mainstream media was about a revival among British, Canadian and American youth. While there’s no doubt some churches have seen influxes of young people, research by groups like Pew in the U.S. have not been able to confirm it. As Pew put it: “Our recent polls, along with other high-quality surveys we have analyzed, show no clear evidence that this kind of nationwide religious resurgence is underway.”

In Canada, the big stories for the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada were the election of new leaders — and the big issues they face.

For Kimberly Heath, the new moderator of the United Church, that means helping that group adjust to going from over one million members in 1965 to 110,000 by 2035, according to a projection by the denomination.

Shane Parker, the new primate of the Anglican Church, has a similar challenge. From a high of 1.2 million members, the Church today has around 300,000 members. At the current rate of decline, an internal Church report predicts there will be almost no members by 2040.

For both leaders, the challenge will be right-sizing their denominations while continuing to find ways to impact society. As Heath put it, “we shouldn’t bemoan we are not the church we were in the 1960s. Yes, we are small now. But maybe that is what we are called to be at this time.”

When it comes to local religion stories, what did you — the readers — resonate with? A look at the Free Press website shows that the most read story was about how a Mennonite charitable foundation with an office in Winnipeg lost nearly $8 million due to unauthorized trading by a senior staff member. The second most-read story was about how local faith-based personal care homes are struggling to feed and support residents.

The third one was about American ministers looking to move to Canada due to growing anti-LGBTTQ+ and anti-trans legislation and rhetoric in the U.S. The fourth was about how Winnipeg’s Unitarian church planted trees to stabilize and beautify the riverbank beside its building. Number five was about the ministry of Winnipeg archbishop Richard Gagnon, who retired and moved to B.C.

Other popular stories included one about the Winnipeg Roman Catholic couple who had their wedding blessed by Pope Leo; how Harrow United Church is commemorating the history of Rooster Town; efforts to save Holy Trinity Anglican Church in downtown; and the controversy over the removal — and the replacement — of the Ten Commandments monument in Assiniboine Park.

And now a new year is upon us; what big religion stories will it bring? Soon we will find out.

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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