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The Catholic Church’s marriage annulment process must be quicker, cheaper and much more of a pastoral ministry, Pope Francis says.
On Tuesday Francis made it simpler and swifter for Catholics to secure a marriage annulment. This is the most radical such reform for 250 years.
At the same time, Francis told bishops to be more welcoming to divorced couples.
When he was rewriting the appropriate sections of the Latin-rite Code of Canon Law and of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Francis said he was not “promoting the nullity of marriages, but the quickness of the processes, as well as a correct simplicity” of the procedures.
He says this means Catholic couples will not be “oppressed by the shadow of doubt” for prolonged periods.
Where it has often taken years and hefty legal fees to annul a marriage, Francis says the new procedure should be free of charge.
In some cases, he says the new rules may mean a marriage might be declared null and void in just 45 days.
Although Francis reaffirms the traditional teaching on the “indissolubility of marriage”, and makes it clear that the Vatican is not in any form promoting or sanctioning divorce, he wants to make it easier for separated couples to obtain an annulment.
In these cases, the Church will decide whether a marriage was not valid in the first place because certain prerequisites such as free will, psychological maturity, and openness to having children were lacking.
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