“Those who were baptized into Christ Jesus live a new life.”
[Dec.02.2021]According to the Religion News Service, an increased number of youth in Italy want to ‘de-baptism’.
Every year in Italy, more and more people choose to go through the simple process, which became available two decades ago at the behest of the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics, abbreviated in Italian as UAAR.
Mattia Nanetti, 25, from the northern city of Bologna, grew up with the teachings and sacraments of the Catholic Church in parochial school. Even his scouting group was Catholic. But in September 2019 he decided the time had come to leave the church behind.
He filled out a form that he had found online, accompanying it with a long letter explaining his reasons, and sent everything to the parish in his hometown.
Two weeks later, a note was put next to his name in the parish baptism register, formalising his abandonment of the Catholic Church.
Some dioceses are keeping track of the data. The Diocese of Brescia, east of Milan, said in its diocesan newspaper in August that 75 people asked to be de-baptized in 2021, as opposed to 27 in 2020.
Combining this partial data with activity on a website UAAR recently launched where people can register their de-baptisms, Roberto Grendene, national secretary of the UAAR, said the organisation estimates that more than 100,000 people have been de-baptized in Italy.
The church does quibble with the word “de-baptism” — sbattezzo in Italian. Legally and theologically, experts say, this isn’t an accurate term.
The Rev. Daniele Mombelli, vice chancellor of the Diocese of Brescia and professor of religious sciences at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, said it’s not possible to “erase the baptism, because it’s a fact that historically happened, and was therefore registered.”
“What the procedure does is formalize the person’s abandonment of the church,” said Mombelli.
While agreeing that it is impossible to cancel a baptism, Italy’s Personal Data Protection Authority now states that everyone has the right to abandon the church.
The de-baptism is finalised once an applicant declares the intention to abandon the church and the decision is registered by the church authorities, normally the local bishop.
But according to canon law, anyone who goes through the procedure is committing the crime of apostasy, which, Mombelli said, comes with “severe consequences.”
An apostate immediately faces excommunication from the church, without need of a trial. This means that the person is excluded from the sacraments, may not become a godparent and will be deprived of a Catholic funeral.
An apostate, instead, manifests their will to formally abandon the church externally, so they face legal consequences for their decision.
The reasons behind de-baptism vary from person to person.
But for many, abandoning the church is a statement against its positions on LGBTQ rights, euthanasia and abortion.
Nanetti said that being de-baptized helped him affirm his own identity as bisexual. “I had to get distance from some of the church’s positions on civil rights matters,” he said.
The church’s stance on sexuality helped push Groppi to seek out de-baptism as well, although he was not affected personally. He found the Vatican’s position on these matters “absurd,” and he was unhappy with how the church meddled with Italian politics (Source: Christian Daily Synthesis).
Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)
God, may Your mercy be upon the young generation in Italy that they leave the truth to follow what is right in their eyes. May the churches in Italy proclaim the gospel of the Cross, that Jesus Christ died for sinners. May those who are deceived by homosexuality and seeking ‘de-baptism’ hear the gospel and return to You, Lord. May the next generation of this country unite with Jesus through the baptism, that they will walk in a new life and glorify You.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
