Posted on 01/29/2021 5:21:49 PM PST by ebb tide
Vatican City — The potential loss of money and authority are often at the heart of the opposition against reforming the Catholic Church's annulment process, Pope Francis said.
Departing from his prepared remarks during a Jan. 29 meeting with members of the Roman Rota, a tribunal handling mostly marriage cases, the pope said that after implementing reforms that streamlined annulments in 2015, he "received many letters" and encountered "so much resistance."
"Almost all of them were lawyers who were losing clients. And therein lies the problem of money," he said. "In Spain, there is a saying, 'Por la plata baila el mono' — 'Monkeys will dance for money.' It is a saying that is clear."
The pope also said he was saddened to see "resistance in some dioceses by some judicial vicars who with this reform would lose, I don't know, a certain form of power because it became clear that he is not the judge, but the bishop is."
In September 2015, the pope issued two documents — "Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus" ("The Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge") for the Latin-rite church and "Mitis et misericors Iesus," ("The Meek and Merciful Jesus") for the Eastern Catholic churches — that reformed sections of canon law dealing with requests for the declaration of the nullity of a marriage.
The documents also emphasized that the annulment process be free of charge or as close to free as possible.
The reforms — which do away with an automatic appeal of all decisions, charge diocesan bishops with responsibility for handling some cases and institute an abbreviated process for cases where the evidence is especially clear and uncontested — were meant to streamline the process and help couples in need of healing.
Continuing to speak off-the-cuff, the pope recalled receiving a call from a bishop shortly after the promulgation of the reformed annulment process.
"He told me, 'I have this problem. There is a woman who wants to marry in the church; she was already married several years ago in the church, but she was forced to marry because she was pregnant. I have done everything: I asked a priest to serve as judicial vicar, another that served as defender of the bond. And the witnesses, the parents said yes, she was forced, and that marriage was null. Tell me, Holy Father, what should I do?'" the pope recalled.
"I asked him, 'Tell me, do you have a pen in hand?' — 'Yes.' — 'Sign it. You are the judge, without all the fuss.'"
In his prepared remarks, the pope told the judges that declaring a marriage is null must not be a cold decision that overlooks the well-being of family members, especially children.
"The declaration of matrimonial nullity is often thought of as the cold act of a merely juridical decision," he said. "But it is not and cannot be so. The judgment of the ecclesiastical judge cannot disregard the memories — made up of light and shadow — that have marked the life, not only of the two spouses, but also the children."
Pope Francis reminded the members of the Roman Rota that their "ecclesial ministry" is "a difficult but not impossible pastoral work" that involves being concerned for children who are "the innocent victims of so many situations of breakup, divorce and new civil unions."
He also emphasized the important role of judicial vicars, priests and those involved in the pastoral care of families to care for and accompany families, especially spouses and children "who suffer the decisions, albeit just and legitimate, of a matrimonial annulment."
"The creativity of charity will foster an evangelical sensitivity in the face of family tragedies whose protagonists cannot be forgotten," the pope said.
How does a fake annulment help in healing?
The Francis wants to pass out "annulments", without chance of appeal, like candy as do secular judges do with civil divorces.
Barf Alert Ping
To Marxists, all decisions are economic decisions.
There are some cases which are really slam-dunk. Those should be expedited. The people need to be able to marry in the church.
While some of those cases certainly exist- that’s really not the problem with the current annulment system.
It saved John Kerry a ton of money. Also left his child, born in that marriage, as a bastard.
Let's revoke Cafeteria Catholic Frank's Tax Exempt Status, tax him 25% of Church income worldwide, and ask him again, What's the Problem?
“It saved John Kerry a ton of money. Also left his child, born in that marriage, as a bastard.”
Nope, neither in civil nor canon law is that true.
Care to give examples besides these below?
The most common annulments are granted due to the lack of canonical form, such as Catholics married by a justice of the peace or a non-Catholic minister, because canon law requires a Catholic priest or deacon with faculties to officiate the marriage.
Another common reason for annulments involves capacity, such as a civil marriage with someone who was not free to marry because of a prior marriage bond.
“In these cases, all you need are the documents to show that’s the case,” he said, explaining these were among the most clear-cut declarations of nullity for the Church to grant.
However, the third category of grounds for annulment — and the most involved processes for tribunals — are marriages involving consent, where one or both of the spouses did not intend to embrace all the goods of marriage: permanence, exclusivity or openness to children, for example.
And from 1982:
Two Christians marrying that are sane, not directly related, and consent through their own volition can't get annulled. What is the problem/matter here?
“Reforming,” I assume, means quickie divorce in Bergoglio speak.
Pope sez, “indulge me”.
The United States, with 5.9 percent of the world’s Catholics, still accounts for 60 percent of the Church’s 58,322 declarations of nullity (2007 statistics in the Vatican Secretariat of State’s Statistical Yearbook of the Church). Of the 35,009 declarations of nullity granted in the US, 79 percent were granted through the ordinary process, while 21 percent were granted through the documentary process.
Bergolio wants to increase that percentage; and for those who are still awaiting or denied an annulment, they are free to sacrilegiously receive Holy Communion per his “merciful” Amoris Latitia.
John Kerry is a bastard, but his child isn’t.
I agree with your assumption.
The intention to use contraception is surely the most common.
Can you back that up with facts?
LOL if you have enough $$$$$$
Well, I know of one case where the groom brought his girlfriend on the honeymoon. That would be an intent against unity and fidelity at the time of the exchange of vows.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.