Posted on 03/22/2005 4:20:23 AM PST by Arthur Wildfire! March
The Pope can do just about whatever he wants. He can, for example, annul the Schiavo wedding. Then the legal credibility that Michael's been clinging to is gone.
THOSE WHO SPEAK OUT ABOUT MICHAEL SCHIAVO [FR Link page]
Broken bones, signs of strangulation, No CPR administered, the cremation outrage, and recent, hot: ACCIDENTAL CONFESSION ON LARRY KING?....And many quotes with info I was not aware of have been pasted there.
Great idea...it'll definitely raise awareness..but legally, does an annulment superecede a civil divorce? In the eyes of the state, wouldn't they still be married. Again, I'm not trying to shoot down your idea, just asking the obvious question...regards
Sources: Newsweek and Seattle Times. Terri reportedly wanted to end their wedding!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1352899/posts?page=370#370
From Best of the Web Today (yesterday)
But it is equally unreasonable to let Mr. Schiavo have it both ways. If he wishes to assert his marital authority to do his wife in, the least society can expect in return is that he refrain from making a mockery of his marital obligations. The grimmest irony in this tragic case is that those who want Terri Schiavo dead are resting their argument on the fiction that her marriage is still alive.
"...but legally, does an annulment superecede a civil divorce? ..."
An annulment ERASES a wedding AND normally slaps one of the two spouses.
It wouldn't affect the legal status of the marriage, only the religous, and I dought if she has enough time left for it to happen even as an emergency action...
The Pope has an embassy at the Vatican where we can contact him. Developing .... !
I rather think the Pope is preoccupied with his own health issues at the moment.
The Vatican could annul the marriage, but the state of Florida would still recognize it.
The average annulment takes a year to wind through the bureaucracy.
"...and I dought if she has enough time left for it to happen even as an emergency action..."
Hope springs eternal. And an annulment would apply tremendous pressure to a court room.
"The average annulment takes a year to wind through the bureaucracy."
The Pope wants to help. Let's Roll !!!
That Fat Lady is warming up. Anullment won't do squat.
Even if the Pope were to annul the marriage under Catholic religious law, it would have no effect on Michael Schiavo's civil legal status as her husband. The Pope has no authority to contravene the laws of the United States.
Is the Pope a Freeper?!
You're right .. an Anullment won't help Terry
The terrorists at Gitmo rec'd more rights then Terry
They even were given lawyers .. Terry wasn't
Nice choice of words there Rebel. What do you think this is, a ball game?
Jeez
It wouldn't at this point, because it would be seen as trying to interfer with the American courts. If she would have started annulment processes before she collapsed, that would have been a different matter.
Annulment doesn't touch on the legal status of marriage, so it's not clear how the Pope's doing that would change MIchael's guardianship.
Also finding a marriage null is not based on the current behavior of the spouses but on what was going on when they got married. As simple, clear examples, if the couple were found to be brother and sister, unbeknownst to them, the marriage is flat impossible. Or if one was hypnotized and therefore was unable to make a free act of will, then there is no marriage.
So the argument might run along the lines of, say, "Michael's subsequent adultery shows that he never intended the unconditional commitment necessary for matrimony, therefore there is no marriage." Maybe something like that could fly. But even the Pope can't just erase a real marriage just because it goes bad.
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