Catholic Funeral for Apostates: Electronic Database as a Remedy for the Problem of Verifying the Canonical Status of a Deceased Person

Abstract

An apostate is a person who has formally defected from the Catholic faith by completely abandoning the Church, resulting in the loss of rights, including the right to a Catholic funeral. The scale of apostasy in Poland remains marginal, though the data are uncertain. The article is a specific response to the Magisterium’s teaching on the use of the internet and technology in pastoral work. The author discusses the issue of Catholic funerals for apostates arising from priests’ lack of information due to difficulties in accessing baptismal registers. The proposed solution is the creation and widespread adoption of an electronic database containing information on the canonical status of the faithful.