Pope Francis makes MAJOR CHANGES to Catholic annulment process

Biggest reforms to annulment made in centuries

Pope Francis has formally announced a couple of major reforms to the Catholic Church's marriage annulment process. These new changes will speed up and simplify the "lengthy procedure."

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to Vatican experts, Pope Francis' newest changes will be the most drastic changes to the church's annulment process in centuries.

"It's a sweeping reform. It's a dramatic reform," said Chad Pecknold, a theologian at Catholic University in the Washington Post. "It's a reform which essentially takes away the whole judicial process for deciding whether a marriage was null or not."

According to two Apostolic Letters from Francis, titled "The Gentle Judge, The Lord Jesus" and "The Meek and Merciful Jesus," the changes will include eliminating the requirement for all annulment decisions to receive a second judgement and will allow local bishops to expedite the process in some cases. The reforms will also expand the local bishop's role in judging nullification proceedings.

However, these changes do not alter the Catholic Church's teaching that marriages are permanent. The Catholic Church does not recognize divorce. Currently, Catholics who receive a divorce and then remarry are not allowed to take communion. Catholics who want to end their marriage must receive an annulment.

"In terms of the average Catholic who is seeking annulment, this makes an already painful situation easier, and that is Pope Francis's intent," Pecknold said. "You can see a clear pastoral eye on this decision. He doesn't want any long waits; he basically wants the decision to come from the bishop."

According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, annulments in the United States has dramatically dropped in the last 20 years. Annulment procedures went from 72,308 in 1989 to just 23,302 in 2014.

"An annulment is granted by a Catholic tribunal if it agrees that a marriage originally thought to be valid was actually missing at least one crucial element from the start, meaning that it was never really a true marriage in the first place," explained the Washington Post.

One of Pope Francis' reforms to the process is couples seeking annulment will now only have to obtain one sentence from one tribunal.  "The moral certainty reached by the first judge according to law should be sufficient," states his letter.

The process will now be reduced down to only one judge; where as formally the tribunal consisted of at least two priests and one canon lawyer.

"This is the most far-reaching reform to the Church's nullity process in 300 years," explained Austen Ivereigh, a papal biographer and commentator on the Vatican, calling the reforms "revolutionary," noting they make annulments more accessible.

According to Ivereigh, "the change shows Francis has been listening to regular Catholics and the reason for this change is that society has changed. This speeded-up procedure recognizes and reflects a new reality."

Although some critics will view the reforms as undermining the concept of marriage as a bond that cannot be broken, many others will see this as a good change.

"What guarantee do you have for a fair trial if you take away those guarantees that were put in the past?" stated Kurt Martens, a professor of canon law at Catholic University. "Sometimes you want to go so quickly, you miss elements and make mistakes. Procedure law takes time to unfold."

"The moment that you put in an exception that makes everybody's job easier, guess what everybody's gonna do?" asked Pecknold, commenting on the reform that allows bishops to expedite the annulment process.

According to Martens, "the expedited process would apply to Catholic couples facing certain conditions, including those who have an abortion, a grave contagious disease, children from a previous relationship or imprisonment."

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online