Catholic Church in Spain declares null a marriage in which the wife had OnlyFans

The Spanish family lawyer Enrique Sainz announced this week on his social networks a ruling handed down by an ecclesiastical court in his country, which decreed the annulment of a marriage in which the wife had an account on the OnlyFans platform.

in a video posted on Instagram On July 1, the lawyer explained that the account was created before the marriage and was maintained once they were married, being hidden at all times.

When the husband discovered that his spouse maintained an active channel on the paid social network with erotic content, he decided to present his case to the ecclesiastical court in order to have the marriage declared null.

“In order to understand this sentence, you have to know that ecclesiastical marriage obliges the couple to remain faithful, have children and be with another person for life, so that if at the time of contracting marriage any of them excludes any of For these purposes, it is contracted invalidly and therefore the annulment of the marriage can be decreed,” Sainz explained.

The Catholic Church does not allow divorce, so annulment implies that the marriage was invalid from the beginning.

According to the lawyer, in the present case, the court ruled that the wife had violated canon 1101 of the Code of Canon Law by having excluded fidelity at the time of marriage.

“The novelty of this ruling is that, despite the fact that the wife stated that she was only doing it to make a little money and that they were not sexualized photos at all since she was not naked, the court considers that it has excluded fidelity, since it created the account before getting married and kept it until after it,” added the lawyer.

A priest expert in canon law analyzes the case

Father Luis Gaspar, who worked for more than 15 years as a judge of the Interdiocesan Ecclesiastical Court of Lima (Peru), shared with ACI Prensa the reasons why the marriage in question could have been declared null.

According to the priest, for a religious marriage to be valid it must be supported by three fundamental pillars: the absence of impediments, that the celebration of marriage complies with the liturgical regulations of the Church, and finally free and voluntary consent.

“When can this act of consent be vitiated? When it is simulated, when it is not free, for example, when you are under the influence of alcohol, drugs or some medications. When your consent has not been fully free, or for example, your consent has been simulated,” he explained.

Referring to the case of the wife who hid the OnlyFans account, he agreed with lawyer Sainz that the annulment was granted by the court based on canon 1101: “The internal consent of the will is presumed to be in accordance with the words or signs employees when celebrating the marriage. But if one or both contracting parties exclude with a positive act of will the marriage itself, or an essential element of the marriage, or an essential property, they contract invalidly.”

Father Gaspar explained that this canon deals with simulation, therefore, “it deals with the third pillar for the validity of marriage, which is consent.”

“The consent has been flawed. Because? Because a circumstance has been hidden from the other party, a behavior that will later affect the married life, the community life and love of the spouses. And in fact, this has happened and the annulment has been requested,” she said.

The act of concealment, according to the Doctor of Canon Law, “has fully affected that total donation, which is the total delivery, a single body.”

“Loyalty is directly affected, since there is not total dedication. “Through platforms like OnlyFans, whose purpose is erotic or pornographic, the ‘one flesh’ bond is morally and sacramentally broken,” she added.

Finally, he recalled that the ecclesiastical court’s ruling came after an exhaustive study and investigation, which reached “the moral certainty that an essential property of married life, such as fidelity, has been lacking.”

The nullity declaration process

The process to declare marriage annulment is rigorous and well defined. “The first thing that the husband, the wife and then the priest or the spiritual guide, or the ecclesiastical court itself, have to do is put all the means so that this marriage does not become null,” said Father Gaspar. If the marriage cannot be saved, the case is presented to the ecclesiastical court, where it is studied in detail.

In cases like the OnlyFans account, the husband or wife must provide proof that the hidden conduct existed before the marriage. “It can be a screenshot of that page, which can be verified,” Father Gaspar mentioned. Witnesses and statements are also part of the process.

With more than 15 years of experience in the Ecclesiastical Court of Lima, Father Gaspar has seen various cases that have led to annulment. “For example, on the issue of simulation of consent. The issue of homosexuality (which was hidden) from the other party. Or the issue of taking drugs. (The couple) hid the drug habit from him,” he said. These examples illustrate the variety of situations that can vitiate marital consent.