Pope Francis, already known as the Pope of mercy, has recently issued a law reforming the canonical process to be followed in causes for the nullity of marriage. This new regulation is contained, for the Latin Church, in the motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesuswhich came into effect on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the beginning of the Year of Mercy.
The coincidence of dates is no coincidence; on the contrary, it is very significant that this new regulation, very dear to the Pope, was born in the context of the convocation of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy and of a Marian celebration.
It is clear to no one that the ecclesiastical Tribunal, where the causes for the declaration of canonical marriage nullity must be processed, must be a place of maternal and merciful welcome for those brothers and sisters who have suffered the pain of a failed marriage.
For this reason, the new law is undoubtedly born with a strong vocation of pastoral service in favor of the faithful who go through these difficulties and also of their families, who suffer with them. This follows from the reflection made by the bishops at the recent Extraordinary Synod on the family convened by the Pope in October 2014, where loud and clear voices were raised so that the process of declaring nullity be "faster and more accessible" for all the faithful.
In this regard, the final report of the subsequent Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod, held in October 2015, includes the obligation of pastors to inform the faithful who have had a failed marriage experience about the possibility of initiating the process for the declaration of nullity, with special concern for those who have already entered into a new union or a new cohabitation. In this way, we can say that the Synod wanted to facilitate the access of the faithful to ecclesiastical justice.
The main challenge, then, is to shorten the distance between the Church's justice and the faithful in need of it. Charity also demands a reasonable celerity, because slow justice is not justice, it is unjust, since it generates in the faithful a feeling of abandonment and hopelessness that distances them from the Church and leads them to take paths that are not always desired, much less sought after.
It is evident that not every failed marriage hides a null marriage, but in any case the faithful have the right to have the Church pronounce on its validity and give peace to their consciences. Hence the reform stresses the need for information about the possibility of initiating a cause for the declaration of the nullity of their marriage to reach all the faithful; for them to feel supported and accompanied; for the difficulty of the process to be alleviated by the simplification of the formalities and by a greater preparation of the operators of the tribunals, with more room for the laity; and finally, for the economic means of each person not to be an obstacle.
Evidently, there is a risk that the public might confuse the streamlining of the process with its haste, or the shortening of the process with favoring the nullity of marriages. This will have to be explained well. It must also be made clear that a distinction must be made between what the Church does, which is to declare a marriage null and void if the judge establishes, with moral certainty, the inexistence of the bond, and what the Church does not do, which is to annul a valid marriage.
It is evident in this sense that the declaration of nullity of a marriage can never be understood as a faculty, that is, as a decision that depends on the will of the ecclesial authority. The declaration of nullity consists, as its very name indicates, in declaring the fact of nullity, if it has occurred, and not in constituting it. Precisely in order to silence erroneous interpretations in this regard, which had already arisen during the celebration of the aforementioned Extraordinary Synod on the Family, the Pope clearly stated at the end of the assembly that no intervention of the Synod had called into question the revealed truths about marriage: indissolubility, unity, fidelity and openness to life.
The reform is certainly far-reaching, juridical and pastoral, and not to risk too much it can even be said that it is unprecedented, but it must be stated without hesitation that the purpose of the canonical process remains the same - the salvation of souls and the protection of unity in faith and discipline with regard to marriage - and that the principles that sustain it have not changed, nor has the intention of seeking justice and truth.
We hope, therefore, that one of the first fruits of this procedural reform will be that the faithful will come to know and therefore trust in the justice of the Church, and that the Church will in turn become aware that the administration of justice is a true pastoral instrument that God has placed in her hands and that, therefore, it cannot be reduced to complicated and unaffordable bureaucratic structures, but must reach and be within the reach of all the faithful.
Rector of the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca
