Is the Gen-Z religious revival real or hype?

Jesuitical

America Media

News, News Commentary, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley and Zac speak with Ryan Burge, author of the “Graphs about Religion” Substack and the new book, The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us. They discuss the polarization of U.S. Christianity and the supposed Gen-Z “religious revival.” In Signs of the Times, Ashley and Zac discuss some highlights from Pope Leo’s trip to Africa; what Pope Leo called the not-exactly-accurate media narrative around him and President Trump; and the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ death. 00:00 A Gen-Z religious revival? 3:38 Highlights of Pope Leo's trip to Africa 10:05 VP Vance questions Pope Leo's theology 20:37 Remembering Pope Francis 22:50 Moderate Christianity is vanishing 25:49 U.S. religion is coded "conservative" 34:54 Catholic demographic trends 37:15 Political implications 40:53 Are young people going back to church? 48:18 Winner churches 52:56 Gen-Z religious trads 1:04:08 Faith Sharing: Pope Francis' humble tomb Links: ⁠Order Ryan’s book, The Vanishing Church⁠ ⁠Graphs about Religion⁠ ⁠Pope Leo walks in the footsteps of St. Augustine in Hippo⁠ ⁠Pope Leo denounces those who use the name God for military gain⁠ ⁠Pope Leo named one of Time magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People of 2026’⁠ ⁠Pope Leo remembers ‘the great gift’ of Pope Francis on the first anniversary of his death⁠ You can follow us on ⁠X⁠ and on ⁠Instagram⁠ @jesuiticalshow. You can find us on Facebook at ⁠facebook.com/groups/jesuitical.⁠ Please consider supporting Jesuitical by becoming a digital subscriber to America magazine at ⁠americamagazine.org/subscribe⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:33.2	Hello and welcome to Jesuitical, a podcast from America Media for Saints and Sinners.
0:38.1	You can join us each week for honest conversations about the Catholic Church in our world today, sometimes over drinks.
0:44.2	I'm Ashley McIncliffe, and I'm joined again by Zach Davis.
0:46.9	It's great to be back, Ashley.
0:48.2	What slow news week while I was gone.
0:50.5	Yeah, you didn't miss much.
0:52.8	Did that news reach Rome and the rest of Italy?
0:56.5	I imagine it would.
0:57.6	It did.
0:59.1	I mean, it's crazy.
1:00.1	I feel like I timed my vacations quite well.
1:03.0	If you don't want to work.
1:04.2	Yeah, if you don't want to work.
1:05.1	We'll get into some of my takes later on the whole Pope Leo versus President Trump thing.
1:10.6	But, yeah, I was just kind of watching
1:11.9	that unfold and absolutely nuts. But I had a much bigger or more hopeful Pope Leo encounter while I was
1:19.9	gone. We mentioned it last week, but please do. Tell more. So I went with my family for Easter
1:25.1	Mass in St. Peter Square and the end of it is my daughter
	...

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