Vatican official: Pope’s changes to annulment procedures are in accord with tradition

November 05, 2015

The prelate responsible for coordinating the internal affairs of the Curia said that Pope Francis’s simplification of the process for obtaining a decree of marriage nullity is in accord with the tradition of the Church.

The change, unveiled by the Vatican on September 8, eliminates the requirement, heretofore mandatory, for a second review of any judgment that a marriage was invalid.

As the simplification hinges upon the authority of a bishop to judge, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, in an article entitled “An Ancient Practice,” surveyed the history of the judicial power of bishops.

Writing in the November 5 edition of L’Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Becciu said Christians often had recourse to bishops as judges and thus avoided corrupt civil courts, while in medieval times, bishops often delegated their judicial authority.

The Council of Trent, the prelate continued, emphasized that the bishop himself, rather than his dean or archdeacon, should personally judge marriage cases, and that the poor should not be required to pay for appeals outside of the ecclesiastical province.

Archbishop Becciu concluded by reviewing papal statements from the past century on the judicial authority of bishops.

 

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Further information:

• Una prassi antica (L’Osservatore Romano, p. 5)
• Pope issues new rules to streamline annulment process (CWN, 9/8)