In an effort to combat sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, French priests will be required to wear scannable QR codes indicating their “status” as either a potential sex offender, a qualified clergy member, or someone not yet fully qualified to lead Mass. The initiative, announced by the Bishops’ Conference of France, allows individuals to scan wallet-size cards using their smartphones, with the resulting color code revealing the priest’s classification. A red code signifies that the priest has been stripped of their clerical position, possibly due to child sex abuse, while green indicates good standing and orange denotes partial qualification.
The Catholic Church presents this system as a means to identify impostor priests and intensify the fight against sexual violence. However, it has faced criticism from some sex abuse victims and observers within the Church. The introduction of QR codes follows a significant report in 2021 that uncovered approximately 330,000 child victims of sex abuse within the French Catholic Church over the past 70 years (Statistic from Associated Press). While the previous requirement for priests to carry documents confirming their profession and qualification existed, it was criticized as challenging to keep up-to-date.
WHAT THE F*CK! Am I crazy for asking why don’t they just fire the ones that have been registered as a sex offender? I feel like that would be way smarter and easier than doing this whole QR code system. I’m also in disbelief and appalled that there are over 300,000 child victims coming from only the Catholic churches in France.
In a positive light, I think everyone should have a QR code with all the stuff they’ve done. How cool would it be to meet someone at the bar and scan their code and it pops up with “2 Speeding Tickets, 1 Disturbing the Peace”. I think that could be a whole business model, Tinder for people with criminal records. Then again, that might just be rehab. It definitely is an icebreaker. My buddy Mason would have to explain why he has an “aggravated DUI” every time he goes out which would be hilarious.
