civil divorce

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jorge2

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Is it a sin to marry someone that is divorced civilly but was never married through the church?
 
The Catholic Church doesn’t recognize divorce, you have to have the previous marriage annulled before you can get married to them in the church.

And yes, its a sin just to not tell the priest about the previous marriage and avoid the needed annulment.

(the church isn’t going to even allow you to get married without the annulment)
 
How can the marriage be annulled by the church if you were never married through the church?
 
How can the marriage be annulled by the church if you were never married through the church?
The marriage tribunals handle annulments of marriages like what you’ve described every day of the week.

I don’t know how they do it, but they definitely do it.
 
What if you had a civil marriage (no church wedding) a country where there is no divorce law.
The marriage would not be valid in the eyes of the Church but would considered legal.
If a couple cannot get a civil divorce would an annulment be possible (even if it was justified)?
 
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jorge2:
Is it a sin to marry someone that is divorced civilly but was never married through the church?
The Church assumes ALL Marriages to be valid until proven otherwise. It is required that ALL previously Married persons who wish to Marry a Catholic have their prior Marriage investigated for validity. If found valid no Marriage can take place. If found invalid a decree of nullity is issued and permission to Marry is granted.
 
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thistle:
What if you had a civil marriage (no church wedding) a country where there is no divorce law.
The marriage would not be valid in the eyes of the Church but would considered legal.
If a couple cannot get a civil divorce would an annulment be possible (even if it was justified)?
Yes. If no civil divorce is required by law. All that is necessary for an Annulment process to proceed is that the civil law be complied with first. It seems strange but I guess that this would be like a Common Law Marriage a “Common Law Divorce”.
 
Br. Rich SFO:
Yes. If no civil divorce is required by law. All that is necessary for an Annulment process to proceed is that the civil law be complied with first. It seems strange but I guess that this would be like a Common Law Marriage a “Common Law Divorce”.
Maybe I said that wrongly. Here in the Philippines once you have a civil marriage you are married for life legally (even if the Church does not consider it valid)because you cannot get a divorce. My question is that on that basis can a couple still get an annulment (if justified). Wouldn’t an annulment still depend on the couple being first divorced?
 
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jorge2:
How can the marriage be annulled by the church if you were never married through the church?
The Church does not annul the marriage–one (or both) of the “spouses” does that at the time of the wedding. All the Church does is investigate the facts to determine if that was the case.
 
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thistle:
Maybe I said that wrongly. Here in the Philippines once you have a civil marriage you are married for life legally (even if the Church does not consider it valid)because you cannot get a divorce. My question is that on that basis can a couple still get an annulment (if justified). Wouldn’t an annulment still depend on the couple being first divorced?
My opinion here:

I believe (without looking) that the requirement for a civil divorce is not in Canon Law. It is usually required however by a Tribunal before they will consider an Annulment case, at least in the US. In this case I would assume that the Bishop would have the Tribunal proceed without the usual civil divorce required in other countries.
 
Dear Jorge,

I answered this in your duplicate thread in “Moral theology.” But for the sake of the posters here, I will repeat it.

It is my understanding that when a Catholic obtains a civil marriage outside of the Church, it is not a valid sacramental marriage, and is not recognized by the Church as such. There would not be a need to look into a possible annulment, for it was not valid in the beginning.

You don’t say whether or not this person is a Catholic. If so, you would be free to date, since the civil contract has been severed, which is always a requirement prior to annulment proceedings. If he is of another faith, you could have a problem, since the Church does recognize these marriages as valid. He may need to look into an annulment in that case prior to any marriage with you as a Catholic.

And, my friend, if he is another faith … he is still married until the Church says otherwise, even though he has a decree of divorce. You may not date him. There is excellent information on the whole realm of dating in this article:

sspxasia.com/Documents/C…and_prudent.htm
 
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Joysong:
It is my understanding that when a Catholic obtains a civil marriage outside of the Church, it is not a valid sacramental marriage, and is not recognized by the Church as such. There would not be a need to look into a possible annulment, for it was not valid in the beginning.
Wrong. For the purposes of remarriage, ALL marriages are presumed valid until they are investigated and determined to be otherwise. It’s just that some investigations are a lot quicker.
 
welcome to the forums, you are obviously a new user since you have not had a chance to check out the forum rules. please post your question on only one forum, thank you.
 
Annie,

Yes, this is confusing, for I find we are having to duplicate in both threads.

Tim,

As I mentioned elsewhere, a formal annulment proceeding where one goes through a great deal of paperwork requiring the support of several witnesses, would not be necessary. All one has to do is see the priest and verify that no marriage took place within the Church. Each valid sacrament that one receives is always recorded within the parish, and can be quickly determined without going through the expense and long process of involving the Tribunal.

Can you give more support for your statement? I have received an annulment, and am familiar with all that it entails.
 
Dear Tim,

I guess it pays to re-read the entire article. That which I knew only in my head, was confirmed in paragraph 3. D. of the link:

d. There are those who have a certain case for a declaration of nullity, and one that can be handled with some dispatch. Thus a Catholic whose first marriage was before a judge instead of a priest, or who attempted marriage with a validly married but divorced person, can know that, with the proper documents, his case can be settled quite soon. If one priest has not the time to handle it, he should go to another. If he is truly repentant, he, too, will be patient over any delay. His company-keeping is lawful, however, because he is certainly not validly married.
 
Thanks to everyone for all the (name removed by moderator)ut. Sorry for the double post.
 
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