Monday 22 September 2014

Catholics to get easier divorce?

It has been reported this week that Pope Francis has ordered a group of theologians and lawyers to come up with ways to help Catholics divorce more easily.

The 11-member commission, announced on Saturday, will seek to "simplify the (annulment) procedure, making it more streamlined, while safeguarding the principle of the indissolubility of marriage," the Vatican said.

At the present time Catholics can obtain annulments if they can show their marriage was not valid in the first place, perhaps because a partner declined to have children.  However this process, through the church, can be complex and often costly.

If Catholics instead opt for a simpler civil divorce – which is not recognised by the Church – and then remarry, they can be refused communion because the Church considers them to be still married and living in sin.

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