Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
No scandal here: How the 20 couples married by Pope Francis were legit

No scandal here: How the 20 couples married by Pope Francis were legit

Last updated on: September 15, 2014 at 11:05 pm by CNA Daily News

No scandal here: How the 20 couples married by Pope Francis were legit 2014-09-15T23:05:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Vatican City, Sep 15, 2014 / 05:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ witnessing of marriages between Catholics who cohabited or who have had annulments is not a change, but is part of the Church’s effort to bring people to Jesus Christ, said two experts on Christian marriage.

“I think there is a perception out there, especially in some media circles, that Pope Francis is trying to undermine what the Church has taught and what the Church has practiced,” Catholic University of America moral theology professor John Grabowski told CNA Sept. 15.

“I see absolutely no evidence of that. When he’s pressed on issues concerning the Church’s teaching on marriage, on sexuality, he is very firm, saying he is ‘a son of the Church’,” Grabowski continued. “What he wants to do is simply put the Church’s focus on mercy, on an encounter with Christ as the heart of its life.”

On Sept. 14, Pope Francis celebrated the marriages of 20 couples from the Diocese of Rome. In his homily, he told them that Jesus Christ “will bring them healing by the merciful love which pours forth from the Cross, with the strength of his grace that renews and sets married couples and families once again on the right path.”

Some media reports have focused on whether some of the couples had annulments or had lived together before marrying. Time magazine claimed that the marriages “hint at coming changes” on divorce and remarriage. The New York Times claimed that the weddings mean that Pope Francis “looks past tradition.”

However, Grabowski said he saw no concrete evidence that the Pope is “instituting any kind of sweeping changes.”

In fact, the Pope’s actions in marrying cohabiting couples reflect common Catholic practice.

“It’s not just Pope Francis, it’s the whole Church who wants to encourage people who are living in a way that contradicts their baptismal dignity to stop living that way,” the professor said.

Catholic teaching holds that cohabitation is “objectively, morally wrong” and on a practical level undermines the prospects of success for marriage. Studies indicate that couples who cohabit before marriage show more propensity to divorce than couples who do not.

Grabowski noted the U.S. bishops’ 1999 document on marriage preparation and cohabiting couples.

That document noted the destructive impact of cohabitation and the steps couples can take to change their situation before marriage. These steps included ceasing a sexual relationship until the wedding and going to confession “to try to begin their marriage on a new footing so that this harmful practice doesn’t end up undermining their chance at a happy, successful marriage,” Prof. Grabowski said.

Msgr. Joaquín Llobell, author of the book “Marriage Procedures in the Church,” stressed that marriage and the family “are the first means of God to make us happy here on Earth and to take us to Heaven.”

He explained that the Catholic faith sees a distinction between a divorce and a recognition of an invalid marriage, commonly known as an annulment.

Civil divorce “breaks a valid marriage.” By contrast, to annul a marriage doesn’t “break that which existed.” Rather, it is a declaration from the Church that a marriage “was never valid” to begin with.

A man with a previously annulled marriage “will be getting married for the first time” because that previous union was not valid due to a defect in him or in the woman with whom he attempted to enter a martial union. These defects can include matters of intention, like the rejection of having children as a purpose of marriage, or conditions such as mental illness that prevent a true marriage from being joined.

Msgr. Llobell is a canon law professor who has taught at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and has served on the tribunal for the Apostolic Signatura.

“What Pope Francis has said most often since becoming Pope is that God is merciful, that we humans exist because God has created us as a manifestation of God’s mercy. Therefore the Church, which is the instrument that God gives us to save us, cannot not be merciful. It is always profoundly merciful,” the monsignor told CNA ahead of the Sunday weddings.

He said the Church is also merciful in cases of alleged marriage nullity, though these cases are “complicated.”

If the Church thinks a marriage is valid, it “cannot but say the truth to its child: ‘Your marriage isn’t invalid and therefore you can't get married a second time’.”

“And that is said with love, explaining why, and with a mercy that is compatible with the truth.”

The marriage of cohabiting couples should also not be misinterpreted, Grabowski advised.

He said that a Church marriage for a cohabiting couple is “not a validation of cohabitation” but “a removal of cohabitation.”

“It’s enabling them to move out of a state that objectively contradicts their Christian profession and their Christian baptism,” he said.

The professor noted that canon law “speaks of the freedom of the baptized to marry” and that the Church and its ministers cannot “put any obstacles in the face of that.” He said individual priests who have barred cohabiting couples from marrying in their parish have been corrected by their bishops.

This does not mean that Catholics want to encourage couples to cohabit, he explained.

“We don’t want to impinge or impede the freedom of the baptized to marry and to move out of what is an objective state of sin,” he added.

Vatican

Previous Post

September 15, 2014

No plans to raise security ahead of Pope's Albania visit

Next Post

September 15, 2014 Catholic League withdraws from St. Patrick's Day Parade

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How did Jesus respond when accused of eating with sinners?

Select your answer to see how you score.

"Don't call me teacher" "I have no friends" "I am hungry" "I came to call sinners to repentance"