Belgian victims of sexual crimes committed by clergy and baptismal records
On Friday, 29 August 2025, the daily newspaper Le Monde published a long article on a scandal that had been in the Flemish press for several years, known as the ‘Zelem nuns’ scandal, which in fact concerned the Catholic Congregation of Saint Vincent de Paul. According to Le Monde, the nuns of this congregation were guilty of years of ‘beatings, humiliation and punishments amounting to torture.’ Shocking testimonies from people now aged between 44 and 74 illustrate this case, which had already caused a stir in the Flemish community in 2009 and 2011 and implicated several prelates, including the famous Primate of Belgium, Wilfried Daneels. The case was then hushed up, and a criminal investigation is currently underway, but the victims are all the more sceptical given that last July, a delegation received at the Vatican returned empty-handed.
Today, there is talk of a meeting with the new Pope, but it is a completely different tune coming out of the usurped City.
The official website of the Catholic Church in Germany alluded to this matter in an article published a few months ago. Was this a step forward? Not exactly. Here is the text:
« In Belgium, the number of people leaving the Church increased after a television documentary about abuse within the Church was broadcast in autumn 2023. As part of the national debate, the way in which the Church deals with people leaving the Church has also been called into question. In particular, the refusal to delete baptismal records in the event of departure has been the subject of fierce criticism. The decision by the Belgian data protection supervisory authority is the first to confirm the right to erasure. In September 2023, the Irish Data Protection Authority published a detailed decision in which it reached the opposite conclusion and dismissed a complaint against the Archdiocese of Dublin. In France and Slovenia, too, courts have already rejected requests for erasure concerning baptismal records.
The current Belgian case dates back to a complaint filed in 2021. According to information provided by the authority, other proceedings relating to leaving the Church are ongoing. Some of the other complainants have also joined the proceedings before the European Court of Justice as parties to the proceedings.»
However, this article on Katholischer.de was intended to analyse a very specific note published by the Vatican to provide arguments for lawyers and magistrates in civil and administrative courts to prevent the expungements demanded by some of the victims.
In a way, raped, humiliated and traumatised for life, the victims must continue – the text is almost explicit – to depend on ‘canon law’, the private international law of the Roman Catholic Church, whose priests were overwhelmingly guilty of these criminal acts or covered them up. This is unbearable.
Belgian victims can rest assured that they will find a warm welcome and unconditional support in their demand for justice, alongside several representatives of victims from other countries at the congress of the International Association of Free Thought, which will be held in Lyon and Grenoble on 10 and 11 October 2025.
Paris September 2nd 2025
Information and registration for the IAFT Congress at: https://internationalfreethought.org/ixe-congres-ailp-programme/
and in Belgium with the CLP/KVD : clp.kvd@gmail.com – https://www.clp-kvd.org/
