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Pope simplifies process for marriage annulments
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Pope Francis yesterday revolutionized the procedure for Roman Catholics to get marriage annulments, making them faster and simpler and calling on bishops to provide greater help to divorced couples.
The most substantial changes to Catholic marriage annulment procedures in centuries again showed Francis鈥 desire for the Church to be more merciful to Catholics in difficulty. The 1.2 billion member Church does not recognize divorce.
In a document known as a Motu Proprio, Latin for 鈥渂y his own initiative,鈥 Francis reaffirmed traditional teaching on the 鈥渋ndissolubility of marriage,鈥 but streamlined procedures that many considered cumbersome, lengthy, outdated and expensive. He eliminated a previously mandatory review of an annulment decision by a second diocesan tribunal and gave bishops sweeping powers to judge quickly the most clear-cut cases themselves.
The title of the document was 鈥淢itis Iudex Dominus Iesus,鈥 Latin for 鈥淭he Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge.鈥
An annulment, known as a 鈥渄ecree of nullity,鈥 is a ruling that a marriage was not valid in the first place according to Church law because certain prerequisites, such as free will, were lacking.
Francis, who set up a commission of experts last year to advise him, said he decided the procedures needed to be speeded up so that Catholics who sought annulments should not be 鈥渓ong oppressed by darkness of doubt鈥 over whether they could have their marriages declared null and void.
In a preface to the new law, the pope said he was 鈥渘ot favoring the nullity of marriages but the speed of the process.鈥 Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the pope鈥檚 chief adviser on the issue, said bishops should aim to conclude simple cases in 45 days. Procedures have lasted for years in the past.
Most annulments are granted at a local level and only the most complicated cases reach a special court at the Vatican, known as the Rota. Francis said the procedures, which can be cost thousands of dollars in legal fees, should be free.
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