Vatican City – The possible loss of money and authority is often at the heart of the opposition to reforming the process of annulment of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said.
Deviating from his prepared remarks at a January 29 meeting with members of the Roman Rota, a tribunal that deals mostly with marital affairs, the pope said that after introducing reforms that streamlined the 2015 annulment, ‘many received letters ‘and’ received so much ‘resistance’. “
“Almost everyone was lawyers who lost clients. And therein lies the problem of money,” he said. ‘In Spain there is a saying:’ Por la plata baila el mono ‘-‘ Monkeys will dance for money. “It simply came to our notice then. ‘
The pope also said that he was saddened to see ‘resistance in some dioceses by some judicial ministers who would lose a certain form of power with this reform, because it became clear that he was not the judge but the bishop is. ‘
In September 2015, the pope issued two documents – ‘Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus’ (‘The Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge’) for the Latin Rite Church and ‘Mitis et misericors Iesus’, (‘The Gentle and Merciful Jesus’) for the Eastern Catholic churches – that the parts of canon law be reformed which deal with requests to declare the nullity of a marriage.
The documents also stressed that the annulment is free or as close as possible to free.
The reforms – which remove the automatic appeal to all decisions, charge the diocesan bishops with dealing with certain matters and institute an abbreviated process for cases where the evidence is particularly clear and undisputed – were intended to streamline the process and help couples in need help of healing.
The pope continued to speak outside the shackles, recalling that he had received a call from a bishop shortly after the announcement of the Reformed annulment.
“He told me, ‘I have this problem. There is a woman who wants to get married in the church; she was married in the church a few years ago, but she had to get married because she was pregnant.’ all done: I asked a priest to serve as a vicar, another who served as a defender of the band, and the witnesses, the parents, said yes, she was forced and the marriage was void. “Holy Father, what shall I do?” The pope remembered.
“I asked him, ‘Tell me, do you have a pen in your hand?’ ‘-‘ Yes. ‘ – ‘Sign it. You are the judge, without all the fuss. ‘ ‘
In his prepared remarks, the pope told the judges that the declaration of a marriage may be void if it is a cold decision that disregards the well-being of family members, especially children.
“The declaration of nullity in marriage is often regarded as the cold act of a purely legal decision,” he said. “But it can not and can not. The judgment of the ecclesiastical judge can not disregard the memories consisting of light and shadow, which characterized life, not only to the two spouses, but also to the children. “
Pope Francis reminded the members of the Roman Rota that their “ecclesiastical ministry” is “a difficult but not impossible pastoral work” which involves caring for children who are “the innocent victims of so many situations of breaking up, divorce and new civil unions. “
He also emphasized the important role of judicial ministers, priests and those involved in the pastoral care of families to care for and accompany families, especially spouses and children “who suffer the decisions, although fair and lawful, of ‘ an annulment. “
“The creativity of charity will promote an evangelical sensitivity amidst family tragedies whose protagonists cannot be forgotten,” the pope said.