The Pope’s shears
Pope Francis’ bold decision to speed up the process for dealing with Catholic marriages that are on the rocks may at first blush seem to challenge everything the church teaches about the permanence of marriage. Conservatives especially may be tempted to see it as cynically sanctioning divorce by the back door.
But Francis is no spiritual iconoclast, and no cynic. He is a shepherd who knows his flock, and who has shown a remarkably progressive preference for the poor, respect for gays, compassion for women driven to abortion, and sympathy for couples whose marriages fail.
He is wielding his pontifical shears to cut through Vatican red tape, not to rend church doctrine or bona fide marriages. Catholics have always held that true marriage is indissoluble, as the English monarch Henry VIII found out to his discomfort when he tried to divorce Catherine of Aragon. He had to break with Rome in 1533 and start up his own church to get his way. To this day, canon law presumes marriages are valid until proved not.
What Francis is targeting is simply the Vatican’s cumbersome and overly lengthy legal process of identifying unions that — in the church’s eyes — were invalid from the outset. That can be the case, for example, if a spouse was too psychologically immature to understand the requirements of marriage, or never intended to be faithful or to have children.
And he’s doing so for the best of reasons. “Concern for the salvation of souls,” he says, demands that those who wish to “be at peace with their conscience” not be thwarted by church rules that are rigid, daunting and remote, and leave people “oppressed by the darkness of doubt” about their status.
Catholics whose petitions for “declarations of nullity” are heard and decided — about 50,000 a year worldwide in a church of 1.2 billion — know from painful experience that the process can be emotionally fraught, long-drawn-out and costly. Many whose marriages have failed drift away from the church rather than petition to remarry with the church’s blessing and sacraments.
Under the new rules, which come into effect on Dec. 8, Catholics will have to face only one church tribunal instead of two, speeding up a process that could drag on for years. Tribunal decisions will no longer have to be upheld by a second panel in every instance. Bishops, not tribunals, will be able to preside over “fast track” cases where there are “particularly clear arguments” for nullity or where both spouses agree. They will be allowed to decide cases directly and hear them within weeks. And the processing cost, which can be steep, should be minimal.
These reforms will be welcomed by Catholics in the United States and Canada, who are granted half the declarations of nullity that are issued. But they will be even more meaningful to those in countries where conservative bishops, scant church resources and general poverty make it hard to get cases handled with dispatch.
Clearly, Francis is in the business of growing his flock, not alienating it. But at root, this is an act of kindness from a spiritual leader who puts compassion first.
Pope Francis puts compassion first in new marriage tribunal process