European court: Church must erase baptism record on demand (Belga English)

The European Court of Justice ruled that the Catholic Church must comply with requests to delete baptismal records. The decision follows a case involving the Diocese of Ghent in Belgium, where the court determined that European data protection laws apply to sacramental records.

The court found that the Church did not demonstrate why its records should be treated differently from those of other institutions. Consequently, an individual baptized as a child has the right to request the erasure of their baptismal record. However, the ruling allows a national court to permit the Church to keep a record if the diocese provides compelling legitimate grounds for doing so.

The Diocese of Ghent previously maintained a policy of retaining baptismal records while adding a note if an individual requested to record their decision to leave the Church. Under this ruling, the diocese must now address requests for full deletion.