I have a question, I know we cannot divorce but Jesus said:
Matthew 19:9 Now I say this to you: anyone who divorces his wife – I am not speaking of an illicit marriage – and marries another, is guilty of adultery.’
I have always believed this as if your spouse had a sexual affair with somebody else the marriage would be broken and therefore, divorce and annulment.
What if you were married, the wife became pregnant but decided against your will and had an abortion; would you be able to end the marriage?
If this happened to me I could not continue the marriage and would never want to have sex with her again.
Luckily I am not in these boats and just wondered.
Thanks.
:dts:
[BIBLEDRB]Matt 19:9[/BIBLEDRB]
From the Code of Canon Law:
Can. 1141 A marriage that is ratum et consummatum can be dissolved by no human power and by no cause, except death.
There is no such thing as a dissolved marriage, once that marriage has been consumated. If there is no such thing as a dissolved marriage, then remarriage is also not an option.
Note: An annulment is a statement that a marriage was not valid in the first place (if it wasn’t valid, that’s the same thing as saying that it didn’t exist). So an annulment is not a dissolution of a marriage.
Can. 1152 §1. Although it is earnestly recommended that a spouse, moved by Christian charity and concerned for the good of the family, not refuse forgiveness to an adulterous partner and not disrupt conjugal life, nevertheless, if the spouse did not condone the fault of the other expressly or tacitly, the spouse has the right to sever conjugal living unless the spouse consented to the adultery, gave cause for it, or also committed adultery.
§2. Tacit condonation exists if the innocent spouse has had marital relations voluntarily with the other spouse after having become certain of the adultery. It is presumed, moreover, if the spouse observed conjugal living for six months and did not make recourse to the ecclesiastical or civil authority.
§3. If the innocent spouse has severed conjugal living voluntarily, the spouse is to introduce a cause for separation within six months to the competent ecclesiastical authority which, after having investigated all the circumstances, is to consider carefully whether the innocent spouse can be moved to forgive the fault and not to prolong the separation permanently.
Can. 1153 §1. If either of the spouses causes grave mental or physical danger to the other spouse or to the offspring or otherwise renders common life too difficult, that spouse gives the other a legitimate cause for leaving, either by decree of the local ordinary or even on his or her own authority if there is danger in delay.
§2. In all cases, when the cause for the separation ceases, conjugal living must be restored unless ecclesiastical authority has established otherwise.
Can. 1154 After the separation of the spouses has taken place, the adequate support and education of the children must always be suitably provided.
An adulterous affair would be a suitable cause for a separation (Can 1152). The perception of physical or mental danger is a suitable cause for a separation (Can 1153). But in all cases, as shown above, forgiveness is called for if it is possible.
While abortion is not mentioned as a suitable cause for separation, I would think that the case could be made that with the past history of abortion, a husband would fear for the life of any future children that would come from that marriage and thus, could not in clear conscience conjugally live with his spouse for the fear that she would get pregnant again and murder that child like she did with the previous one.
But that is not to say that this, in of itself, would be grounds to say that the marriage was invalid (thus making him eligible to get married).
