La Iglesia católica ante la Ley española de Protección de Datos

Abstract

182

All data of a religious nature have supplementary protection measures in the 1999 Spanish Law on Data Protection of a personal nature. The application of the Law in the area of the Catholic Church must distinguish between the exercise of the function of registry and the use of personal data of the faithful within the framework of normal pastoral and organizational activities. The parish baptism, marriage and death registers are not archives in the legal sense; they reflect certain facts on the canon position of the faithful, with reference to the sacraments; they are under the rule of Canon Law. The demand for the cancellation of a baptismal register by appealing to the abovementioned law has no true basis.
Among the archives which the ecclesiastical authorities may produce we must distinguish between those which bear relation to activities under the legislation of the State —of economic, fiscal, occupational or academic-teaching character— and those which respond to the internal organization of religious entities and the development of pastoral activities. With reference to the former, state legislation is applicable. The archives which refer to the internal organization of religious entities and pastoral activities are controlled by Canon Law.