Catholic Herald: In 2016 more than half of converts in Vienna were Muslim, according to reports

From Catholic Herald
Posted Tuesday, 19 Apr 2016

St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna (PA)

An increasing number of Muslim migrants in Austria are converting to Christianity, according to reports.

According to Austrian website Kurier, 83 adults were approved for baptism in Vienna in 2016, with Friederike Dostal of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference estimating that about half of them were Muslims, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iran. This figure is up from one-third in 2015.

There is expected to be a further rise of Muslim converts in 2017 due to the fact that there has been an increase in the number of refugees arriving in Vienna in recent months and because the conversion process, known as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, takes up to a year to complete.

The Archdiocese in Vienna is handling between five and 10 adult baptism requests per week, Kurier says.