Ruginienė vows stricter QR checks for priests working with children

Social Security and Labour Minister Inga Ruginienė has pledged to tighten checks among priests of special QR codes required for work with children, LRT reported on Monday.

Under rules in force since November 2024, people who want to work with children must have a special code confirming that they have not been convicted of serious or sexual offences.

“We have discussed at the ministry that we will apparently tighten QR code checks among priests,” Ruginienė told LRT Radio. “The Church leadership must carry out the checks. We will definitely do this again and tighten them further,” she said.

Her comments followed the announcement in early August that two priests had been charged in cases involving sexual offences against minors. One priest is accused of sexual offences against 11 minors. Law enforcement recorded 34 criminal episodes allegedly committed over 23 years, from 2002 to 2025, and the case has been referred to the Vilnius Regional Court.

In a separate case referred to the Vilnius City District Court, another priest is charged with possessing child pornography. There are no victims in that case. According to the Delfi news portal and the Liteko court schedule system, the accused are Tadas Švedavičius and Ryšardas Peciunas.

Ruginienė said the Church’s communication about the situation had lacked “principle and strictness”. After the cases were referred to court, the Vilnius Archdiocese said it was cooperating responsibly with law enforcement, conducting canonical investigations and stressing that the accused had been suspended from their duties.

The minister also said that an appropriate response from the community was important in similar cases. “If we are talking about small, closed communities where everyone knows everything but remains silent for some reason, I always say that witnesses who remain silent also contribute to the criminal act,” she said.