Catholic priests in France will be forced to wear scannable QR codes to point in the event that they are sex offenders, based on church officials.
Under the brand new system, people can scan wallet-sized cards with their smartphones to receive considered one of three color codes revealing the “status” of a clergy member, based on the French Bishops’ Conference.
Red shows that the priest was faraway from his clerical position potentially due to child sexual abuse, although the character of the sanction shouldn’t be specified.
Green is an indication that the priest is fit and orange means he shouldn’t be yet fully qualified to conduct Mass.
The system – announced on May 10 to make the church look more “transparent” – also applies to bishops and deacons, informed France 24.
The Catholic Church hailed this system as an efficient option to arrest fake priests and “intensify the fight against sexual violence within the Church”, even though it has come under fire from some victims of sexual abuse.
“If now we have to scan QR codes of clergy members to reassure Catholics, then the Church has reached a latest low. That is nothing greater than a publicity stunt and shows to what extent the trust between the faithful and their hierarchy has been broken,” said François Devaux, former president of the group La Parole Libérée (The Freed Word), which has survived abuses within the church. departure.
“It’s a fairly unique measure that I believe is considered one of the three dumbest ideas of the Catholic Church.”
Christine Pedotti, who runs the French Christian weekly Témoignage Chrétien (Christian Testimony), called it “a small tool that is solely not enough in comparison with the dimensions of the issue.”
The tech-focused changes got here after the 2021 bomb report revealed it roughly 330,000 children have been victims of sexual abuse within the French Catholic Church over the past 70 years.
Previously, Catholic priests within the country were required to hold a document proving their occupation and qualifications, although the documentation was criticized as being difficult to update.
Details of this system, comparable to where priests must wear or display a QR code and the date by which they need to comply, weren’t immediately clear.