Bishops resort to Pope Leo XIV while European Court evaluates cancellation of baptismal records

A group of European bishops has resorted to Pope Leo XIV and the Holy See for help, while the European Union Court of Justice reviews a Belgian judicial case on the cancellation of names in the baptismal records.

At an audience held on May 23 in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV “told us that he considers the very important issue. He mentioned it from the beginning. He said: ‘I really want to hear his opinion,’ ‘he said Alessandro Calcagnolawyer and deputy secretary of the Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union (Eat), A ACI Stampa, an agency in Italian of Ewtn News.

The Court of Justice of the European Union is currently listening to a case presented by the Brussels Court of Appeal, which requested clarification on whether the Catholic Church’s refusal to erase names of the Baptismal Registries when the General Regulation of Data Protection of Europe is requested.

This rule regulates the processing of personal data within the European Union since May 2018. The European Court judgment is expected to be issued at the end of 2026 or 2027.

Calcagno told ACI Stampa that, when a baptized Catholic requested to be eliminated from a record, a note was usually written on the margin of the document indicating “formal apostasy of faith.” The record that baptism had taken place remained as a historical fact.

But at the end of 2023, in the Diocese of Ghent, in Belgium, someone requested that all their data be completely eliminated from the registry, which was rejected by the diocese.

There were already some similar cases in Europe in 1995, Calcagno said, but all with failures of national courts favorable to the church.

Now, he said, it is “the first time that there have been small attempts to undermine this positive trend. Because until now, the jurisprudence established that the ruling was (add) an annotation, but suddenly the idea of ​​cancellation (data) has emerged.”

The question of how this can be resolved is open and is subject to a legal strip and loosen between the authorities and the Church.

“Both in Belgium and in the Netherlands, there is an attempt by the secular civil courts of interpreting canon law to argue in favor of cancellation,” said Calcagno. “This is a great danger because if you begin to enter a law that is not yours, you begin to manipulate (that law).”

Eat is working with the Holy See to defend the position of the Church on the issue of baptismal records.

The role of Eatce has been “gathering reflections and legal arguments when certain cases arise at the level of the European Union,” said Calcagno, and holding meetings with several jurists of the national episcopal conferences.

“We gathered many arguments that were later used,” he said. “Several member states intervened in the procedure, and there was also work done by the churches at the local level. In addition, there was a strong collaboration with the Holy See, and A note was published on April 17, 2025specifically about the cancellations of the baptismal records, and we work very intensely with the Holy See in this. ”

The Dicasteria note for legislative texts said that “canon law does not allow the modification or cancellation of registration made in the Baptismal Registry, except to correct possible transcription errors. The purpose of this registry is to provide certainty about certain acts, making it possible to verify its real existence.”

The issue has been monitored for years, and solutions that the European Court accepts are sought. But it must be clarified, according to Calcagno, that “the court is simply writing an answer to questions he has received from a National Court. It is not an initiative against the Church by the European Union. It is an answer to clarifications requested nationwide.”

The answer will take a few years, he explained, because “there must be a public hearing, then there is a general lawyer that gives guidance, called conclusions, and then the sentence arrives.”

According to a Annual 2023 report1,270 Catholics in Belgium requested that their names be eliminated from the Baptismal Registry, due in large part to the deep consequences and public outrage due to the management of sexual abuse scandals.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.