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Articles By Covadonga Asturias

PHOTO GALLERY: The traditional Chartres pilgrimage breaks records. Here are the surprising figures that challenge the European narrative of religious decline

What most surprised was not merely the size of the crowd — larger even than last year’s 19,000 pilgrims — but its demographic profile. According to an internal study conducted among 4,610 participants, the average age of the pilgrims was only 22 years old. By comparison, the average age of practicing Catholics in France today is approximately 57.

From Spain to Mexico: Cardinal Aguiar defends the Cause for Beatification of Queen Isabella the Catholic in Valladolid

For Aguiar, that decision embodied a deeper spiritual vision: the recognition that every human being is fundamentally a brother or sister. In his view, this principle places Isabella among the early political figures who articulated a proto-concept of universal human dignity, long before the modern language of human rights emerged.