Tue 16 May 2023:
The French Catholic Church will require all of its bishops, priests, and deacons to wear ID cards with QR codes in order to protect worshippers from sexual abuse at the hands of clergymen.
The new system designed to supplement paper documents was unveiled by the Bishops’ Conference of France (CEF) on Wednesday.
« Confrontée à des affaires de violences sexuelles, l'Église de France numérise d'ici la fin de l'année les documents d'identité professionnelle des évêques, des prêtres et des diacres, pour les empêcher de célébrer en cas de sanction. » https://t.co/Jyh6kkPNm2
— Agir pour notre Église (@AgirNotreEglise) May 10, 2023
After scanning the QR code, the person will see color-coded information about the clergyman. Green will mean that the cleric can lead mass, hear confessions, and perform other sacraments without restrictions. Orange will indicate that the priest’s powers are limited due to sanctions or a lack of proper experience.
People stripped of their clerical status for whatever reason will be coded red.
“It seemed essential to see what we could change… to make the Church safer,” CEF spokesman Alexandre Joly said.
CEF Deputy General Secretary Ambroise Laurent explained that the ID cards will also help keep track of the priests’ activities when they perform services outside of their dioceses, accompany worshippers on pilgrimages, and act as counselors for groups of young people.
Despite the backlash, the French Catholic Church says the new tool is just one of many solutions aimed at combating sexual abuse, “to ensure that we are now in a culture of transparency and treating others well”, said Matthieu Rougé, the bishop of Nanterre, in an interview with RMC radio channel on Thursday.
“The top priority is still to support victims and to train priests.”
The French Bishop’s Conference has promised that all 18,000 priests and deacons across the country will receive their QR codes by the end of the year. Bishops have already received them.
The Catholic Church in France and other countries has been rocked by cases of sexual abuse of minors in recent decades. In 2021, the CEF-appointed independent inquiry commission estimated that there were between 2,900 and 3,200 offenders in the church’s ranks in France since 1950.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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