Kochi: The reforms introduced by the Vatican in marriage annulment are bound to have a positive impact on Catholic community in Kerala, it has been pointed out.
“It will have a positive impact on the Catholic Church in Kerala, opined Fr Stephen Alathara, a Vatican expert and spokesperson of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India(CCBI). “But the changes will be be slow and they will happen over the years. The speedy annulment will certainly help those awaiting annulment for genuine reasons,” Fr Alathara said.
The Vatican has ushered in major changes with regard to marriage annulment process, which are expected to speed up and simplify the procedure. It is widely believed that there would be far-reaching changes to the Church’s annulment process which dates back centuries. However, the changes do not alter the Catholic Church’s teaching that marriages are forever, reported The New Indian Express.
Catholic teaching does not recognise divorce. Catholics, who are granted a civil divorce and then remarry are ineligible to take Communion, a key part of the active Catholic life.
Instead, a Catholic, who wants to end his or her marriage, must be granted an annulment, a process that may take years, even if the civil court were to grant divorce.
The revisions in the norms were announced in two Apostolic Letters. A major change is that the nullification process becomes complete with the decision by the diocese court. Earlier, annulment decisions by diocese court should have been up held by the court at Archdiocese level. It has been pointed out that this “ will reduce the length of proceedings to a great extent”.
“Certainly it is not an encouragement for divorces. But a support to those, who often face isolation after putting an end to marriage. The Church teaching is that a person who divorces lives in sin. Problems arise when such people have children from their second marriage. These issues have been addressed through reforms, Fr Varghese Vallikkat said.