Originally published at The Crux
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Following the publication of a highly influential opinion on a legal case in the European Union (EU) that could compel Catholic parishes to delete baptismal record, the legal advisor for the EU’s bishops’ conferences said the opinion is disappointing and concerning.
Speaking to Crux Now, Alessandro Calcagno, Adviser on Legal Affairs for the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), said that last Thursday’s opinion by Advocate General Leila Medina suggested an “insufficient understanding of the nature and importance of recording baptism in a Church register”.
He also said it could lead to an infringement of the Church’s religious freedom.
While the opinion of Medina is non-binding, the opinions of advocate general’s in EU cases are often followed.
“We are disappointed and concerned. The opinion proposes to reject the solution of having a marginal annotation of the wishes of the baptized added in the register in case of erasure requests,” Calcagno told Crux Now.
The Bisdom Gent case involves a Belgian national who was baptized as a child and subsequently asked the diocese of Ghent to delete all reference to him from any physical or digital register or archive, relying on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
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