Erasing of Baptism register names goes to European court

Clarification of the matter is being sought by the Brussels Court of Appeal before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The issue is whether the Catholic Church’s refusal to erase names from baptismal records when requested is in violation of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation or not. That rule has regulated the processing of personal data within the European Union since 2018.

Alessandro Calcagno, a lawyer and assistant general secretary of the European Union bishops’ conference (COMECE), said that when a baptised Catholic asked to be removed from a register, usually a note was written in the margin of the document stating “formal apostasy from the faith”. The record that a baptism had taken place would remain as a historical fact. 

But at the end of 2023, in the Belgian Diocese of Ghent, an individual asked that all their data be completely removed from the register. This was was opposed by the diocese. There were already some similar cases in Europe in 1995, Mr Calcagno said, but all the national court rulings were favourable to the Church.

In April this year, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Legislative Texts affirmed that “canon law does not allow the modification or cancellation of registrations made in the baptismal register, except to correct possible transcription errors. The purpose of this register is to provide certainty regarding certain acts, making it possible to verify their actual existence”.

COMECE is working with the Holy See to defend the Church’s position on the issue of baptismal records. Pope Leo XIV is aware of the issue and considers it to be very important.

According to a 2023 report, 1270 Catholics in Belgium requested their names be removed from baptismal registers, due largely to public outrage over the handling of sexual abuse scandals.

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Bishops turn to Pope Leo as European court considers cancellation of baptism records (By Hannah Brockhaus and Angela Ambrogettti /CNA)