Express procedures via digitizing the licensing marriage, baptism, divorce resolution is being processed by the Ministry of Digital Governance with the …blessings of the Church, which seems to be entering the digital world in order to serve citizens directly and effortlessly, who by the end of the year will be able to conduct their transactions with the Church of Greece and complete without bureaucracy all the relevant procedures for the celebration of a sacrament from their computer through the gov.gr.
As the Minister of Digital Governance, Dimitris Papastergiou, points out to APE MPE, “a very ambitious and necessary effort for further simplification of procedures is being launched by the Ministry of Digital Governance and the Church of Greece.
Procedures such as those related to religious marriages and baptisms, procedures that today can only be done by visiting a church, will be done digitally by the end of the year. Presumably in the same way, one will be able to certify that these have been performed. In the Ministry of Digital Governance, following the vision of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and cooperating daily with the whole society, we are bringing solutions for a more digital, efficient Greece for all.”
According to reports, an application is planned, which will be managed by the Metropolises, through which the reception and processing of the required applications for the sacrament of marriage and baptism will be done electronically. At the same time, the Ministry of Digital Governance is considering that after the sacrament has been performed, all bureaucratic procedures with the municipal registries and municipalities’ registry offices will be automatically executed and those concerned will be notified either via SMS on their mobile phones or by a message to their email address about the certificate they have requested.
Specifically, the required documents so far, which are expected to be simplified and digitized to facilitate citizens in their daily lives, are the issuance of marriage and baptism licenses, the application for marriage, the registration of performed marriages and baptisms, the declaration at the civil registry office for both mysteries, while the updating of portions in the municipal registry for marriage and baptism, respectively, will also be done digitally. To these, according to ministry sources, will be added the issuance of a certificate of religious marriage and baptism, while digitally and with one click it is planned to issue a certificate of dissolution of marriage (replacing the current divorce certificate).
Executives of the Episcopal Synod express their satisfaction with this development. The digitization of sacred relics, the support of virtual tours of religious historical sites and the improvement of services provided to the public is a priority for the church and is an area of excellent cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Governance. They add that the church has already piloted mainly the Archdiocese of Athens and some other metropolises have digitized historical relics and cultural treasure (they are doing virtual tours of temples and important monasteries). The church has been providing the public with important digital services in the last decade.
