You're referring to the last edition of the catechism. The practice of allowing civil divorce with no remarriage in limited circumstances originated with the development of civil divorce, and existed in canon law previous to the publication of this catechism.
I know that my father's mother obtained a civil divorce from my father's father in the 1930s. It was necessary to protect her family. She did not remarry. She always viewed my father's father as her husband, and prayed for him daily.
The Church had no problem with her divorce. She remained a life-long communicating Catholic, and died a peaceful death in 2000, after saying the Rosary.
sitetest
“How about ... no ... it was 1997”
First, the CCC came out in 1992. You’re referring to the second edition (1997) - and your link doesn’t work. Second, you can see the same sort of thing in many books about marriage published in the 1950s. I’ve seen it in old books myself. At that time, however, men were more likely to be MEN who actually continued to support their wives and children even if they separated and many Catholic couples split without ever divorcing. Today fewer men voluntarily support their children (sad, but true) and divorce settlements are often necessary to make that happen. Remember, at one time the Catholic bishops of America did place excommunication upon divorced people during the U.S. Bishops’ Council of Baltimore in 1843. The bishops removed that in 1884 though excommunication for any Catholic who divorced and remarried outside the Church still remained.