In Spain, Christian baptisms are in free fall. There are those who have found a substitute: civil baptisms

There was a time when children arrived with something more than a bread under their arm. They did it with an invitation (almost mandatory) to the baptism. They were their parents more or less believers, more or less practitioners, most babies passed through the baptismal pia. Not today. Just like Not all The couples who marry do so before a Catholic priest. As society It is secularized New rituals gain strength, such as civil weddings or “Baptisms Lacios”, which two decades after their premiere in Spain They continue to expand.

They may not be a majority option or have reached the level of popularity of civil links (which do have a legal character), but lay and symbolic baptisms have gone making his way Little by little in the Spanish geography.

Civil baptisms? The concept may be shocking, but It has been a few years old extending through Spain and there are still municipalities that incorporate it into its service portfolio In full 2025. A civil christening It is neither more nor less than the secular alternative to Christian baptisms, a secular ceremony, usually free of religious connotations, during which a child’s entry into society is represented. Nothing else. Nothing less. And although it lacks legal value, in some cases it is accompanied by A symbolic title.

The former mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó, in May 2023, during the first “welcome ceremony to the citizenship” of the City Council.

Is it something new? No. at all. There are those who go back their origins to the “civil sponsorship” that were held in France from the late eighteenth century. In Spain they are not a novelty either. Its history can go at least to Autumn of 2004when the first “foster care” was held at the City Council of Igualada. Since then the formula has been extended to other municipalities in the country. In 2007 Rivas Vaciamadrid began to celebrate them, Madrid and The Borge They joined in 2009Albacete In 2011Moaña In 2013 and Vigo In 2018… and thus a long (and growing) list of municipalities distributed throughout the country.

How many? Difficult to specify it, although the number of municipalities that celebrate them exceed the hundred. In 2018 only in Catalonia they were offered in 71 municipalities. In 2022 Cullera Laya had accounts and calculated that in the whole of Spain at least 150 municipalities willing to organize ceremonies of “civil foster care”. The same figure shared it in 2023 Religion in freedom.

The truth is that the list has followed (and continues) growing over time. In May 2023 The first civil christening was organized in Valencia and shortly the payroll of municipalities that deliver citizenship letters to babies will increase with a new incorporation: Lovesa Galician people of 32,800 inhabitants that It has just approved The ordinance that regulates them. “Although they may seem simple symbolic ceremonies and without legal validity, their existence represents a step towards a model of coexistence in which all families can participate,” defend A councilor.

Are many celebrated? Another difficult question to answer. There are no global or official balances, but the data that has been shared in account in the press suggest two trends: the first, that the “civil christening” has been gaining weight in the Spanish geography, expanding to dozens of locations; second, which is far from reaching the reception level of Catholic ceremonies.

In 2017 Albacete digital He revealed that since 2011 they had been held in the town about twenty of civil receptions. That same year, at the time the service premiered, Vigo added Several tens of applications. His success has also been marked by political fluctuations. In Valencia, for example, only For a few months. After the change of government, the new team decided to do without them without apparently having great impact. As it transpired then, seven requests had been registered.

Civil ceremony held in 2023 in Valencia.

Are there more clues? Yeah. The confidential published on Tuesday A report in which he spoke with professionals in the sector that confirm an increase of interest in the format. “I have been in the business business for new years and lately demand for civil baptisms, a strong fashion also in the United States,” An organizer recounts of events. A quick search for #Bautizosimbolico, #Ceremoniadebienvenida or #bautizocivil on Instagram or Tiktok It shows that lay acts continue to be held, both in Spain and in other countries.

What is your goal? Celebrate. Introduce. Welcome. During civil baptisms the arrival of newborns, their “entry” in society is celebrated. Sometimes it is done in the municipalities, with the participation of mayors. Others not. The normal thing is that during the ceremony Articles are read Related to the protection of childhood, such as the Spanish Constitution, the United Nations Constitution Rights Convention of 1990 or the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959).

“It’s not that people don’t have faith, they want to make baptism something more intimate and emotional,” Share The same professional. “Everything I do depends on what parents choose, although the ritual usually develops around a table. Usually, the godparents sign an act with their commitment, a document that is not registered anywhere or has legal weight, but rather symbolic.”

Is it an isolated phenomenon? No. The civil christening is not understood without the context and more specifically the secularization of society. After all, baptism (or foster care) is not the only sacrament that has been stripped of religious value. The clearest case is that of marriage. In 2009 the number of civil links exceeded for the first time to the Catholic weddings, with 94,993 ‘yes I want’ pronounced before civil authorities and 80,104 before priests. The situation has changed.

In 2022 79.9% of links held in Spain they were civilians and only 20.1% religious. And that that last was the highest percentage recorded since 2019. The number of Christian baptisms has also been reduced as civil foster care or the civil care or the parties Gender Reveal. The CEE data They reveal that the number of baptisms has gone from 349,820 in 2010 to 152,246 in 2023. and the descent is not explained only by the fall in birth. If in 2009 they were baptized 63.6% Of the newborns, in 2019 that percentage was already 48.7%.

Images | VALència Ajuntament (Flickr) and Jesús Saucedo (Flickr)

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