Protestants and annulments

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Ammi said:
She was divorced, and it was not a Sacrament.
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As people have tried to explain ad infinitum, that is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if it was a sacrament—the only thing that matters, and the only thing the Tribunal is investigating, is whether it was valid.
 
In the example I gave earlier with a non-sacramental wedding between a Catholic and a non-baptized person, are you under the impression that they’d be free to marry if they got divorced? Because it wasn’t a sacrament?

If that were true (which it absolutely is not), why would the Church ever permit such marriages?
 
To be honest, Julian, yes I was under that impression.

Where can I read about that?
 
Michael Smith Foster, Annulment, the wedding that was

Also, The Pastoral Companion: a Canon Law Handbook
 
Ammi said:
The point is to find an impediment to a valid Christian marriage, which is called a Sacrament.
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The tribunal also examines non-sacramental marriages (called natural marriages) involving non-Christians for validity.
 
If you are correct, which I do respect both of your knowledge enough to be aware you could be, then I’m very confused how that can be.

I will read what Julian referred.
 
Ammi said:
If you are correct, which I do respect both of your knowledge enough to be aware you could be, then I’m very confused how that can be.
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Maybe you can explain what is confusing you about this.
 
Ammi said:
then I’m very confused how that can be.
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Marriage has the presumption of validity.
  1. If you are Catholic, and married in the Church, or outside the Church with appropriate permission, your marriage is presumed to be valid.
  2. If you are not Catholic, and enter into a civil marriage (and you’d never been previously married and didn’t have some impediment like being closely related to your spouse), your marriage is presumed to be valid. If one of you is not baptized, it’s not a sacrament.
  3. If you are both baptized in a denomination other than Catholic, and you marry legally (in a church, a meadow, a courthouse), your marriage is presumed to be valid. It is also a sacrament.
The Tribunal is only interested in the validity of marriage. People who are in presumably valid marriages—who divorce and wish to remarry—must have their marriages investigated to determine if they were actually valid. Whether they were sacramental or not is irrelevant and is not what the Tribunal is determining.
 
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The only thing I dont understand, is how a non Sacrament marriage, which is divorced, is considered binding like a sacrament.
 
Ammi said:
The only thing I dont understand, is how a non Sacrament marriage, which is divorced, is considered binding like a sacrament.
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A valid, sacramental marriage can only be dissolved to the death of a spouse. If a tribunal finds a marriage between the baptized is valid, they are not free to marry anyone else until their spouse dies.

A valid, natural marriage can be dissolved. But that requires the favor of the faith— Pauline or Petrine Privilege. Civil divorce does not dissolve a valid natural marriage. If a tribunal finds a natural marriage to be valid, they’re not free to remarry unless they petition for, and are granted, a dissolution of the natural bond via favor of the faith and/or following Church procedures to marry.
 
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So the Pauline Privilege can only be requested by the Catholic party? Otherwise the non Catholic spouse cannot marry another Catholic?
 
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Ammi said:
So the Pauline Privilege can only be requested by the Catholic party? Otherwise the non Catholic spouse cannot marry another Catholic?
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The Pauline Privilege would not apply in the scenario you present. Pauline Privilege dissolves a bond between two unbaptized people.
 
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Yes. The Pauline Privilege might be invoked if two unbaptized people married, and then one of them was later baptized.
 
Ammi said:
But a Baptized and unBaptized valid marriage cannot be divorced?
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Civil divorce does not dissolve the bond.

If a baptized and unbaptized person have a valid marriage, the pope can dissolve it through the Petrine Privilege. The parties would then be free to marry another person. But they have to petition the pope following canon law procedures. I don’t know how many petitions of this type are granted or not granted. If not granted, then the parties are not free to marry again.
 
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Ammi said:
But Paul talked about one Christian, and one nonChristian.
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Actually, Paul was talking about spouses who were not baptized at the time of their marriage where one seeks conversion to the faith.
 
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