Related News
Pope simplifies process for marriage annulments
Print Edition
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’ 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 “by his own initiative,” Francis reaffirmed traditional teaching on the “indissolubility of marriage,” but streamlined procedures that many considered cumbersome, lengthy, outdated and expensive.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 “Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus,” Latin for “The Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge.”
An annulment, known as a “decree of nullity,” 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 “long oppressed by darkness of doubt” over whether they could have their marriages declared null and void.
In a preface to the new law, the pope said he was “not favoring the nullity of marriages but the speed of the process.” Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the pope’s 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.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
