Posted on 09/08/2015 5:09:14 PM PDT by ebb tide
Early reports are in, and it looks like Pope Francis, as expected, has radically reformed the process by which Catholics may annul their marriages, streamlining steps that many liberals in the church considered too cumbersome.
The move is the latest in a series of public relations initiatives, whereby Francis hopes to make his pontificate appear more responsive to the needs of lay Catholics, especially those who have "long felt marginalized" by the hierarchy (READ: Don't like Catholic moral theology).
The three main changes announced on Tuesday are:
• Eliminating a second review by a cleric before a marriage can be nullified.
• Giving bishops the ability to fast-track and grant the annulments themselves in certain circumstances -- for example, when spousal abuse or an extramarital affair has occurred.
• The process should be free, except for a nominal fee for administrative costs, and should be completed within 45 days.
The Pope's reforms came Tuesday in the form of two "motu proprio" documents, Latin for "by (the Pope's) own initiative." They become part of Catholic canon law on December 8, the beginning of Francis' declared "Year of Mercy."
REMNANT COMMENT: We'll have to wait for the official translation later today, but this already promises to dramatically undermine marriage, especially in third world countries where the annulment process is less popular and marriage vows are stronger.
The Pope is reportedly waiving fees, leaving it up to local bishops to delegate priests to handle annulments, removing one of the tribunals, removing the automatic appeal, and green-lighting annulments when both parties want the annulment. (This last one is my favorite, by the way, since it basically means that when you and the missus decide to call it quits all you need is mutual agreement that the thing never happened in the first place. Now . isn't . that . convenient!)
And of course the Holy Father is adding a “lack of faith” to the growing list of trumped-up reasons to conclude there was never a marriage in the first place, as well. At the end of the day, if you WANT an annulment you GOT an annulment . . . but let’s not call it “divorce”. Heck, no! That would tamper with the indissolubility of marriage!
By the way, what about those of us who feel marginalized for believing as Catholics believed for thousands of years, that marriage vows actually mean something, that only death can break them, that we are married in the eyes of God, that there is no opt-out clause? What about us?
What about those who follow the rules and take marriage seriously, and who firmly believe that "streamlining the annulment process" is just an embarrassingly transparent euphemism for on-demand divorce for Catholics? Any chance of us getting a little mercy up in here? No? I didn’t think so!
What a joke! How the halls of hell must be echoing with the booming laughter of old Henry the King of England.
Well played, Francis. You've done it again!
I divorce thee;
I divorce thee;
I divorce thee!
Get a goat.
She just Might reconsider...
Then why are there 'reforms' if there is nothing wrong?
Danny: You mean he's piled up a fortune of sixty cows out of her infidelities?
Billy Fish: And thirty-two goats.
Danny: She ain't a wife, she's a going concern!
There are only two reasons:
Poorly Catechized
or..
Badly Translated.
Even MORE poor catechism type stuff?
Can't ROME teach ANYTHING right these days?
One would have to JUDGE a person; using approved standards; to be an idiot; and we ALL know what he's said about judging!
Is there a LIST?
I want to be safe...
He should post on FR then; and not just Twitter©.
Oh?
News to me.
I'm sure this will work.
There is SO much documentation to prove it.
Them darned ol' MORMON sealing ceremonies...
I’ve read; somewhere; that a certain fella once told a woman that she’d had five husbands and the one she had now was not legitimate.
The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
My wife and I were married at 19. We’ve been happily married for 26 years but one now has to wonder whether we were every married at all...
Actually, this is the only case where divorce is allowed: adultery
How does the Catholic church handle the following situation:
An atheist marries another atheist. They have 4 children. The husband converts to become Catholic and the wife divorces him for being a “Jesus freak.”
How would the Catholic church handle such a situation if the man would like to remarry a nice Catholic lady?
Thats funny.
This weekend we went to one of the small town fairs here in western MA. Not quite the berkshires, but one of the hilltowns. There was a family that was showing their goats. The two momma goats had just had their kids the week before. All of the babies were in a dog box while the moms were in the ring.
They were falling all over each other. They were the cutest things. I told my wife I wanted a goat.
That was brought up during the annulment discussion.
(I am not kidding about that, but the annulment discussion was all in jest. Although I did see a call to the diocese on the “recent calls” list.)
I never said they were and I am not sure how you got that idea.
Now days if they had movie where a king named his daughter as an Ambassador just so she could stay and put pressure on a adolescent prince to marry her the howls would echo from New York to Hollywood.
Yet that was exactly what did happen.
Any other time Henry would have gotten his annulment and England would have remained in Rome's sphere.
At that meeting, the ex-wives were told they’re not entitled to an annulment unless they can show that their husbands never intended to keep their vows in the first place (hence, the marriage never existed). Most of these women were middle-aged and older, and their long marriages had produced children.
IOW, as long as someone intended to keep his vows when he first made them, his wife isn’t entitled to an annulment “just because” he cheated many years later. (Or vice-versa, if the women cheated.)
For example, one woman was in her 60’s, and she said her pastor told her that, because the marriage had lasted so long, it would never qualify for an annulment. She even was criticized for not forgiving her husband and for filing for divorce after she found out he cheated.
So, maybe the pope is addressing that issue with these changes.
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