Pope Francis Simplifies Catholic Marriage Annulment Process

A symbol of marriage annulment

Photo courtesy: cruxnow.com

Pope Francis, on September 8, introduced a new law allowing for quicker decisions and removing automatic appeals to speed up and simplify the Catholic marriage annulment process, reports the National Post.

The annulment process of the Church has been under criticism for a long time for being complicated, expensive and out of reach of many Catholics, especially in poor countries where dioceses don't have marriage tribunals. Many Catholics having the right reasons for getting annulments suffered a lot due to this long-drawn unhelpful process. 

As a result, there were long-lasting demands for reforms of this process. You may read about it here: Pope Francis should consider the church's outdated annulment process (January 13, 2014), and, The Annulment Dilemma: Revisiting a Complicated Process (February 16, 20015). 

For more detailed information on Pope Francis' reform, Catholic marriage and annulment, kindly read the following:


Pope Reforms Catholic Marriage Annulment Process:

• Pope Francis Announces Changes for Easier Marriage Annulments 
• Pope issues major marriage annulment reforms
• Pope speeds up, simplifies Catholic marriage and annulment process
• Pope reforms Catholic Church's marriage annulment process
• Revamped annulment process focuses on speed, role of local Bishops 
• Pope Francis streamlines process for granting annulments
• The Pope's annulment move?It's a good thing, Vatican official says 
• Pope Francis Reforms Annulment Process: 9 things to know and share 

What and How of Catholic Marriage and Annulment:

• Catholic Beliefs on Catholic Marriage
• Catholic Beliefs on Marital Spirituality
• The Sacrament of Matrimony (from the Catechism of the Catholic Church)
• Catholic Wedding Q & A 
• Church Teachings on Annulments
• Marriage Annulments
• Understanding Annulments
• Catholic Marriage and Annulments
• Divorce, Annulments, and Remarriage
• Frequently Asked Questions about Marriage Annulments
• Frequently Asked Questions on Annulments
• 12 Myths about Marriage Annulments in the Catholic Church (Archdiocese of Baltimore, USA)
• Myths about marriage annulments in the Catholic Church (Diocese of Salt Lake City, USA)
• What Every Respondent Needs to Know About the Annulment Process
• What are the necessary circumstances that qualify a marriage for annulment in the Catholic Church?
• Annulment Nation (The USA, with 6% of the world's Catholics, accounts for 60% of the Church's annulments)
  

Causes or Grounds for Catholic Marriage Annulment:

• No Catholic Divorce: Grounds and Obstacles to Annulments
• Grounds for Marriage Annulment in the Catholic Church (St. Mary's Church, Waco, USA)
• Frequently Asked Questions about Reasons/Grounds for Obtaining Marriage Annulment
• Reasons for Annulment
• Grounds for Annulment

Pope Francis Reaches Out to Divorced and Remarried Catholics

Pope Francis meets with newlywed couples in an audience in the Vatican

Photo courtesy: CNS photo via The Catholic Herald, London

Pope Francis, in his August 5 general audience in the Vatican, continued his catechesis [teaching] on the family, touching on the situation of the civilly divorced and remarried Catholics, reports the Vatican Radio.

"In these decades, in truth, the Church has been neither insensitive nor lazy. Thanks to the in-depth analysis performed by Pastors, led and guided by my Predecessors, the awareness has truly grown that it is necessary to have a fraternal and attentive welcome, in love and in truth, of the baptized who have established a new relationship of cohabitation after the failure of the marital sacrament; in fact, these persons are by no means excommunicated — they are not excommunicated! — and they should absolutely not be treated as such: they are still a part of the Church," he said. 

For further news on  and analysis of this topic, please visit the following:

• Pope: divorced and remarried people not excommunicated (Vatican Radio)
• Pope Francis on the divorced and civilly remarried (YouTube video) 
• Pope Francis: GENERAL AUDIENCE (Wednesday, 5 August, 2015) (w2.vatican.va) 
• Pope: Divorce and remarriage contradicts the sacrament, but Church always reaches out (Catholic News Agency)
• Pope: 'By No Means Excommunicated,' but Divorce and Remarriage Contradicts the Sacrament (National Catholic Register)
• Pope Francis: The Divorced and Remarried Are Not Excommunicated (aleteia.org)
• Pope: Divorced and Remarried Are Not Excommunicated, Should be Welcomed (America magazine) 
• Divorced and remarried Catholics are not 'excommunicated,' says Pope (The Catholic Herald)
• Francis: Divorced and remarried are not by any means excommunicated (National Catholic Reporter)
• Pope: "No closed doors" to divorced and remarried, they are part of the life of the Church (AsiaNews) 
• Pope Francis Urges Priests to Welcome Remarried Catholics (The New York Times)
  
• Pope Francis: Church Should Welcome Divorced, Remarried Catholics (TIME magazine)
• Pope Francis Says Remarried Divorced Catholics Still in Church (The Bloomberg News)
  
• Pope Francis Says Church must welcome divorced, remarried Catholics (Religion News Service)
• Pope Francis's embracing of divorced Catholics still needs to overcome divine law (CBC News)
  
• Stop shunning divorced Catholics, Pope Francis tells his flock (The Telegraph)
  
•  Pope Francis on the Divorced and Remarried: 10 Things to Know and Share (National Catholic Register)

Divorce in Muslim Community in Canada Is on the Increase

The cover story on Muslim divorces in Canada, published in the Bengali-language 'Probashi Kantho' fortnightly of August 1 - 15, 2013 in Toronto

The Probashi Kantho, a Bengali-language fortnightly from Toronto in its August 1-15, 2013 cover story, mentions that the divorce in the Canadian Muslim Community is alarmingly on the increase. This community comprises of Muslims coming from all over the world. Bangladeshi Muslims in Canada are not immune from the divorces. The similar situation exists in the USA. 

Different surveys show this to be so. In the Bangladeshi Muslim community, especially among the young and second-generation families, divorce is on the rise. These people, in spite of their own culture, have been embracing Canadian culture as well. The latter is having more influence on them.

Reasons for the divorces are: higher education and jobs among Muslim women making them more assertive, free-spirited, and self-reliant; spousal differences in sharing of family responsibilities; undue interference of in-laws; economic struggles; both-way spousal abuses (emotional, mental or physical); infidelity, and others. 

When asked, whether they were happier than before being divorced, 90.61% of the respondents replied “yes.”

For reading the complete Bengali-language article, click on each of the two images above.

The Sign of the Time

A quickie divorce advertisement on an island on Birchmount Road near Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto

Photo (Toronto: July 15, 2012) © Jerome D'Costa