Originally Posted by Blue Horizon View Post
I don’t deny technical failure of the Tribunal is the only basis,… however it is the one that the previous two Popes always said still needed to be worked on. And given that I believe in Magisterial harmony (unlike some here) it would be a natural interpretation of AL that this is also Pope Francis’s primary inspiration.
Well, having had a re-read you are right there is nothing explicit. But then this is an exhortation so we cannot expect him to get stuck explicitly into Canonical aspects of the validity of the first marriage per se I suppose.
Admittedly points 291 to 312 are about discerning and weakness.
Clearly enough many worthy cases are not strong enough, together enough educated enough or wealthy enough to tick all the tribunal boxes before entering into a new relationship to relationship. Many are likely too desperate or traumatised to stop and think too much of these niceties…though some will surely have considered themselves in conscience free before God to so remarry.
Is it grave objective sin not to tick Church positive law boxes first when life hits you like a freight train or you are not a monk or cleric with lots of education and time to reflect and enquire as to the right way to do things? Is it grave sin to put your life and your children’s on hold while the Church takes years to make up its mind (or witnesses to come forward) about the status of your first marriage. And if you know there was something wrong from the start and also you are smart enough to know there are no witnesses, apart from your unhelpful husband, is it a grave sin to marry again and attempt the doomed tribunal niceties later?
And even if the above are grave sins (I think not so much myself) they are surely weaknesses in any case and therefore covered by AL.
I was interested to discover AL likens irregular marriages to other religions. They are not pretend religions, nor are all marriages pretend marriages:
292 “Some forms of union radically contradict this ideal (full marriage), while others realize it in at least a partial and analogous way. The Synod Fathers stated that the Church does not disregard the constructive elements in those situations which do not yet or no longer correspond to her teaching on marriage.”
So you are perhaps right here, like Protestant’s…if they believe what we believe about Communion they may participate…likewise if couples in their irregular situation see their marriage expressing all the values that Christians do…perhaps there is an argument for Communion. But then, that implicitly requires reflection on the status of the first marriage for faithfulness is a core Catholic value. Yet the DP process allows for this reflection and conclusion to take place outside of a juridical process…with implications for Communion.
Admittedly, above is not expressly about 2nd marriages but perhaps 1st irregular ones.
Though 297 and following suggests its both types referred to above with little distinction.
Which favours your view.
So then we come to 300. Al says:
“If we consider the immense variety of concrete situations such as those I have mentioned,
it is understandable that neither the Synod nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases.”
So this is probably the closest we get to explicitly referring to Tribunal processes.
It is then an admission that positive law cannot easily cope with the complexity of all cases we see today…that would seem to implicate even tribunals.
It introduces doubt into ever clearly defining the status before God of marriages (that is in fact denied by one or both “spouses” ) which at a juridical level cannot always discover what God may well see.
However the personal DP process can…at least wrt Communion or Confessional access.
“the consequences or effects of a rule need not necessarily always be the
same.”
The Argentinian draft from memory is more explicit in relating aspects of AL to the tribunal process and findings but that’s another read to do.
www.lifesitenews.com
