European bishops say EU data law cannot force deletion of baptismal records

The Court of Justice of the European Union is considering a case that could require the Diocese of Ghent, in Belgium, to delete baptismal records at the request of individuals under EU data protection law. The case arose from a "debaptism" request by a person who argues that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives them the right to have all their personal information removed from the Church's baptismal register.

The case, registered as C-12/25 Bisdom Gent, began on March 25, 2021, when the person asked the Diocese of Ghent to delete their personal information from all diocesan files, including the baptismal register, citing the GDPR. On April 2, 2021, the diocese refused to delete the entry but added a note recording that the person "left the Church" on a given date. On December 19, 2023, Belgium's Data Protection Authority ordered the diocese to comply with the request, but the diocese appealed.

The European bishops' position

The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union brings together the bishops' conferences of EU countries. It said that "the baptismal register is the fundamental basis for establishing the legal status of the person in the internal legal order of the Church." The bishops said that requiring the Catholic Church to delete the data held in that register would be a serious breach of the Church's autonomy and of institutional religious freedom.

The bishops described the note added by Ghent as "not ideal" and said it does not reflect the Church's usual practice in other EU member states. They said the EU has no right to interfere with baptismal registers.

The sacramental nature of the records

One point in dispute is whether baptismal registers are simply lists of members. The bishops cited a note issued by the Dicastery for Legislative Texts on April 7, 2025, which recalls that "canon law does not permit the modification or deletion of entries made in the Baptismal Register" except to correct transcription errors, because the register "represents the objective record of sacramental actions, or actions related to the sacraments, historically carried out by the Church."

The note says that "if the Church did not have these general rules on the obligation to register Baptism, it would not be possible for the Church herself to carry out sacramental activity, since the valid reception of the sacraments requires certainty about the reception of Baptism."

Theological and legal implications

The bishops said a possible EU decision would redefine the nature and character of baptismal registers in a way that contradicts the definition the Church holds. Deleting baptismal records could cause confusion among the faithful and, more seriously, among non-believers, leading them to think that baptism can be repeated or is optional, which the bishops called an "infringement on the substance of the sacrament."

The rights of those who wish to leave the Church cannot extend to reshaping Catholic theology, the bishops said. Requiring the Church to treat baptismal registers as a mere "membership list" would alter not only administrative procedures but also "theological reflection itself," which is protected by the Church's autonomy.

In traditional Catholic doctrine, baptism is the sacrament that removes original sin inherited from our first parents, both its guilt and its spiritual effects, including the loss of grace. Through the sacrament the soul is cleansed and reborn into divine life, and the person is incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ, the Catholic Church, as a living member of it. For that reason it is held to be the condition required for receiving all the other sacraments, since sharing in sacramental life presupposes the new birth conferred by baptism.