As many as 14,251 people asked to be deregistered from the Catholic Church last year, a figure far above what was expected.
The revelations in the VRT documentary Godvergeten (or "Godforsaken") are likely what prompted this exodus from the Church last year, the Episcopal Conference of Belgium stated on Wednesday.
Those requesting to be debaptised were not obliged to explain their departure from the Church "but many have spontaneously indicated that they are doing so out of disgust at sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the culture of silence that has existed in the past, as shown in the TV series Godvergeten," the organisation said.
98% of the group are from Flanders or the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels. Apart from a peak of 5,000 in 2021, the average amount of people requesting deregistration averages at 1,200 annually.
Godvergeten first aired in September 2023 and compiled the testimonies of victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests. The subsequent scandal pushed the Flemish Parliament to publish a series of recommendations to tackle sexual abuse in May.
On top of prompting a wave of debaptism requests, the documentary likely also contributed to an increase in reports of sexual abuse. The Episcopal Conference noted that the amount of incidents reported to the Church itself quintupled in a 12-month period: there were 218 reports of past abuse between June 2023 and July 2024 compared to 47 in the previous timeframe.
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Pope Francis' recent visit to Belgium fed into anti-Church sentiment in the country. 524 people signed an open letter requesting to be debaptised following the Pope's comments about women and abortion during the trip.
Debaptism is not just symbolic; it has political consequences too. The Church still receives state funding which varies in function with the amount of Catholics registered in the country.
