Pope Francis: Faith a Criterion in Investigating a Marriage’s Validity

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Pope Francis: Faith a Criterion in Investigating a Marriage’s Validity

In an address today to the Roman Rota, the Pope highlighted ‘the human and cultural context in which matrimonial intention is formed.’

by ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI/CNA/EWTN NEWS 01/23/15

VATICAN CITY — In investigating the validity of a marriage, ecclesial judges should consider whether the decision to marry was made in the context of values and faith, Pope Francis said on Friday.

Pope Francis opened the judicial year of the Roman Rota, the highest appellate tribunal of the Church, addressing them Jan. 23.

Among its competencies, the Rota is the highest appellate court for cases of the declaration of nullity of marriages, and this is why Pope Francis’ address was a reflection on “the human and cultural context in which matrimonial intention is formed.”

In his speech, Pope Francis maintained that an understanding of the nature of marriage is a criterion by which to judge the validity of a marriage; asked for an increase of the number of canon lawyers available at local tribunals; and requested that the availability of services free of charge be increased.

(Read the rest there)
 
IMO, this is a positive statement for the communion for the remarried issue, since it is concerned with the internals of the annulment process (rather than developments outside the annulment process), and is a doctrinally sound approach.

That said, I don’t think it’s really a good idea to pursue (too easy to abuse in practice), but given some of the alternatives, I’ll take it.
 
McCall1981 said:
IMO, this is a positive statement for the communion for the remarried issue, since it is concerned with the internals of the annulment process (rather than developments outside the annulment process), and is a doctrinally sound approach.

That said, I don’t think it’s really a good idea to pursue (too easy to abuse in practice), but given some of the alternatives, I’ll take it.
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Wasn’t this always the case?
 
SWolf said:
Wasn’t this always the case?
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Always the case that theyve been looking within the annulment process?

Yeah, they have always been, I just think that to the extent that the conversation moves towards annulments and away from giving communion to people in a state of mortal sin, its a (relatively) good thing.

Theyve pretty much avoided specifics this whole time. Now Francis seems to be starting to push this solution specifically, and I think its better than some other solutions he could be pushing.

Just IMO of course 🤷
 
If the synod is going to decide to “streamline” the annulment process by giving us catholic divorce with the annulment tag slapped on it, that would be extremely disappointing.
 
boar2roar said:
If the synod is going to decide to “streamline” the annulment process by giving us catholic divorce with the annulment tag slapped on it, that would be extremely disappointing.
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I agree, but I still think its better than some of the other alternatives.

Maybe I’m too pessimistic, but I think its the best we can realistically hope for.
 
McCall1981 said:
Always the case that theyve been looking within the annulment process?

Yeah, they have always been, I just think that to the extent that the conversation moves towards annulments and away from giving communion to people in a state of mortal sin, its a (relatively) good thing.

Theyve pretty much avoided specifics this whole time. Now Francis seems to be starting to push this solution specifically, and I think its better than some other solutions he could be pushing.

Just IMO of course 🤷
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Actually, that one’s Faith was always a criterion when getting an annulment.
 
SWolf said:
Actually, that one’s Faith was always a criterion when getting an annulment.
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Yeah, but I would think the idea is to formalize/expand on it, so that it could be used “pastorally” to annul pretty much any marriage that people want annuled.

It could become a very big loop hole if they want it to, and I think thats basically the idea here.
 
McCall1981 said:
Yeah, but I would think the idea is to formalize/expand on it, so that it could be used “pastorally” to annul pretty much any marriage that people want annuled.

It could become a very big loop hole if they want it to, and I think thats basically the idea here.
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Who is ‘they’? None of us from CAF has contributed to this thread so I’m assuming you are targeting the Magisterium with your accusation?
 
*"He made reference to Paragraph 27, in which he wrote, “I dream of a ‘missionary option,’ that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation.”

“This is the great difficulty of your mission, along with judges in every diocese,” he told the members of the Rota — “not to keep the salvation of persons enclosed within the straits of legalism.”

“The function of law is guided toward the salus animarum [salvation of souls] on the condition that, avoiding sophisms distant from the living flesh of people in difficulty, it may help to establish the truth of the moment of consent: whether it was faithful to Christ or to the deceitful worldly mentality.”"*

Pope Francis also cited a 1973 address of Blessed Paul VI, in which he noted that the supreme goal of law is the salvation of souls.

Pope Francis also urged **an increased presence of canon-law experts in every diocese **to “counsel about a possible cause for a declaration of nullity” and for the presence of “stable court-appointed attorneys,” so that “real access for all the faithful to the justice of the Church’s justice” is assured.

*The possibility of lack of faith as a potential cause of nullity was also discussed by Benedict XVI.

In a 1998 paper, republished by L’Osservatore Romano on Nov. 30, 2011, Pope Francis’ predecessor also considered the possible expansion of the canonical recognition of the nullity of marriages celebrated “without faith” by at least one of the spouses, even if they are baptized.

And in his final address inaugurating the Rota’s judicial year, Benedict XVI said on Jan. 26, 2013, that “one must not … disregard the consideration that can arise in the cases in which, precisely because of the absence of faith, the good of the spouses is jeopardized, that is, excluded from the consent itself. … With these reflections, I certainly do not intend to suggest any facile automatism between the lack of faith and the invalidity of the matrimonial union, but, rather, to highlight how such a lack may, although not necessarily, also damage the goods of the marriage, since the reference to the natural order desired by God is inherent in the conjugal pact.”

In the same address, similarly to Pope Francis, Benedict had noted that “the principle that the salus animarum is the supreme law in the Church must indeed be borne in mind and every day must find in your work the strict respect that it merits.”*

…

It would be a wonderful event if every diocese were to have their own Canon lawyers for more reasons than just marriage examinations. Having that reference point so close at hand would keep the clergy on track as well.
 
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