I see a strange combination of truths mixed in with misconceptions here.
A declaration of nullity is
about finding the truth of a marriage in a particular case,
not merely about freeing a couple up to marry someone else or freeing a man up to pursue sacred ordination or a man or woman up to pursue religious life.
According to Catholic teaching, once a man and a woman enter into a valid marriage, they are bound to each other until the end of one of the spouse’s life.
There are two exceptions:
- The Pauline privilege mentioned in the Book of Acts (?), which permits in the case of two unbelievers (unbaptized persons), one of which converts to Christianity, the other refuses to remain with the believer. In this case, the marriage may be dissolved by apostolic decree upon petition by one of the spouses. They are then free to marry again.
- The Petrine privilege which is based on the idea that eventhough a man and a woman have had a ceremony, it is really when the couple first has intercourse with each other that they really are married. If and only if it can be proven that a man and a woman have not had intercourse, a spouse or both of them may petition the Holy See to dissolve the marriage. They are then free to marry again.
Now, declarations of nullity are entirely different.
These are declarations that a valid marriage never took place in the first place, not Catholic divorces, usually evidenced, but not always, by the fact of marital strife. Since the grace of the marital sacrament never took effect in the first place, it is reasoned that strife will occur. In order to understand marriage validity, think of when you are making a secular contract, say to buy a house for example. If somebody puts a gun up to your head and orders you to sign the housing contract, one could argue in court later that the contract was not valid. The same thing goes on with the validity of marriage if the rules for being married in the Church are not followed. In at least one case, however, a couple petitioned for an investigation of their marriage w/o marital strife.
In one such case, a man petitioned for an investigation of his marriage simply to prove to his wife that their marriage was valid (CLSA Roman Replies and Advisory Opinions-2002 (?)). Well, in the first instance, the tribunal ruled that the marriage indeed was invalid. When another tribunal in the second instance reviewed the case, it affirmed the first tribunal’s ruling. Then the man tried to abort the proceedings.
In other words, these cases are not merely about how the petitioner(s) may benefit from them, like a person seeking damages in a secular court. They are about finding out the truth of a matter, whether it profits the petitioner(s) or not, so as to uphold the divine honor and the salvation of souls. As for how the aforementioned case ended up, I don’t know.
