Pope Francis has restored a capacity to the Vatican’s main marriage court that had been restricted by St John Paul II. In a December 7 rescript, Francis allowed the Roman Rota to grant an annulment even if the grounds for doing so weren’t the ones originally specified in the case under review. Before 1994, the Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Annulments’
Pope Francis again rules out women priests
Friday, October 2nd, 2015
Pope Francis has again rejected the possibility of female priests in the Catholic Church, citing a ruling of one of his predecessors. During a press conference on board his flight back to Rome from the US, Francis said St John Paul II had decided “that cannot be done”. “Pope St John Paul II – after Read more
Curia grumpy at being out of loop on annulment changes
Friday, September 18th, 2015
Senior Vatican officials have voiced discontent with the way recent changes in Church law on annulments was handled. In a seven-page dossier, obtained by German newspaper Die Zeit, the officials express concerns over an absence of consultation on the matter. They complained that no curial departments, including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Read more
Annulment simplified but grounds unchanged – Cardinal Dew
Friday, September 11th, 2015
“The Synod gathering in 2014 discussed simplifying the process for people and I’m pleased to see that Pope Francis has been able to move on this fairly quickly after that discussion,” said Cardinal John Dew, Moderator of the Marriage Tribunal. He was speaking after Pope Francis announced that the marriage annulment process is to be Read more
Easier annulments may not be the answer for divorced Catholics
Friday, July 17th, 2015
At the October 2014 Synod of Bishops on the family, the bishops of the world grappled with the question of readmitting divorced and remarried Catholics to Communion. Some, like Cardinal Walter Kasper, pointed to the approach taken by the Orthodox churches, where divorced people can marry in a civil ceremony and be admitted to Communion after they have Read more
NZ Bishops waive marriage annulment fees
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015
The New Zealand Catholic Bishops have decided the Marriage Tribunal will no longer charge fees for the marriage annulment process. “The Tribunal process is an important pastoral ministry within the Church at a very difficult time in people’s lives,” said Cardinal John Dew, Moderator of the Tribunal. “The Bishops wanted to ensure that cost was Read more
US diocese eliminates all marriage annulment fees
Friday, April 10th, 2015The diocese of Pittsburgh in the United States has eliminated all fees for marriage annulments. Bishop David Zubik said Pope Francis had inspired the move by calling for marriage tribunals to do justice swiftly. The Pope expressed a desire for no-cost annulments last year. Pittsburgh church officials had been collecting about US$120,000 annually in annulment fees Read more
US bishops’ head to focus on unity, integrity at synod
Thursday, March 19th, 2015
The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has said he will take a message on integrity and unity to the synod on the family. Archbishop Joseph Kurtz is one of four US prelates who will attend the synod in October. In an interview with the National Catholic Register, he was asked what Read more
Pope wishes that marriage annulments could be free of charge
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015
Pope Francis has said he wished that all marriage annulment processes could be free of charge. In an address to the Roman Rota in January, the Pope said: “The sacraments are free. The sacraments give us grace. “And a matrimonial process pertains to the sacrament of matrimony. How I wish that all processes were free.” Read more
Pope sets up commission to look at streamlining annulments
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014
Pope Francis has ordered a review aimed at simplifying the Church’s procedures for marriage annulments. An 11-member commission, announced on Saturday, will seek to “simplify the (annulment) procedure, making it more streamlined, while safeguarding the principle of the indissolubility of marriage”, the Vatican said. The commission is made up of canon lawyers and theologians and Read more