All data held by the Church had been processed according to law and records reflected actual events so could not be deleted, an Appeals Tribunal confirmed.

The decision had originally been taken by the Data Protection Commissioner in a case filed by Ingram Bondin on behalf of the organisation Not in Our Name.

Mr Bondin had written to the Curia on behalf of Nion on November 14, 2011 saying that he and the members of Nion did not wish to remain members of the Catholic Church.

He asked for Church data about him and the other members to be deleted from Church records.

The Curia refused to acknowledge Mr Bondin’s representation of the members of Nion saying this was not in line with procedure. It offered, however, to add a note to the Baptism Registry that Mr Bondin had left the church.

It also noted that the data it kept was related to sacraments it administered and was collected by the parish churches when these sacraments were administered.

This information was not disclosed to third persons but could not be removed from the records.

The Data Protection Commission had decided that Church records had been processed according to law and reflected events that took place.

Mr Bondin appealed arguing that he and the members of Nion had revoked their consent for the data about them to be processed by the Church.

He noted that it would be dangerous for the church not to delete this information it could lead to discrimination and victimisation.

However, the Tribunal decided this morning that none of the parties contested the fact that data had been collected according to law and with the consent of the individuals’ parents.

The Church, the tribunal decided, had the right and the obligation to register this information.