The diocese of Saltillo, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, denied that it has issued a statement in which it has referred to “Catholic divorces” or “religious divorces”, and said that “the figure of divorce does not exist in the Church.”
In a statement disseminated through their social networksthe Mexican diocese, governed pastorally by Mons. Hilario González García, asked the faithful Catholics “not to get carried away by inaccurate holders in the media and social networks.” In canon law – the law of the Church – he explained, “marriage nullity is not a divorce, but the declaration that a marriage was never valid, due to the existence of vices or impediments since its celebration.”
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“This means that, despite the fact that people have married, the Church considered that there was never a valid marriage bond.”
Next, the Diocese of Saltillo recalls that the Canon Law Code “establishes various causes of nullity”, mainly contained between canons 1083 and 1107. In general, the bishopric points out, among these causes are “the lack of valid consent, the existence of impediments (as kinship), or defects in the way in which the marriage was celebrated.”
Nullity, it emphasizes, “is not the same as divorce”, because “unlike civil divorce, the Catholic Church considers indissoluble marriage, so there is no divorce in the canonical field. Nullity, on the other hand, declares that marriage was never valid from the beginning.”
To be declared nullity, he adds, it is necessary “a judicial process in an ecclesiastical court, where it is analyzed if the conditions to declare the nullity of marriage are met.”
“Any of the spouses can request the nullity, even if the other does not agree, as long as there are valid and justified motifs,” he adds.
What the catechism teaches about divorce
The Catechism of the Catholic Church warns In its numeral 2384 that “divorce is a serious offense to natural law. It intends to break the contract, freely accepted by husbands, to live together until death.”
“The divorce threatens the salon of salvation of which sacramental marriage is a sign. The fact of contracting a new union, although recognized by civil law, increases the severity of the rupture: the married spouse again is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery,” he says.
“Between baptized, ‘the time and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or by any cause outside death,” says numeral 2382, citing the 1141 canon of the Canon Law Code.
However, the Catechism states that “the separation of husbands permanently can be legitimate in certain cases provided by canon law (cf Cic Can. 1151-1155)”, adding that “if civil divorce represents the only possible way to ensure certain legitimate rights, the care of children or the defense of heritage, it can be tolerated without constituting a moral lack”.
The disorder of divorce, warns the catechism, “involves serious damage: for the spouse, which is abandoned; for the children, traumatized by the separation of the parents, often living in tension because of their parents; for their contagious effect, which makes him a true social plague.”
He also says that “it may happen that one of the spouses is the innocent victim of divorce dictated in accordance with civil law; then it does not contradict the moral precept.”
“There is a considerable difference between the spouse who has worked hard with sincerity to be faithful to the sacrament of marriage and looks unfairly abandoned and that, due to a serious offense of its part, destroys a canonically valid marriage,” he says.
David Ramos
Graduate in Communication Sciences by the Private University of the North in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working in ACI Press, I am based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered the trips of Pope Francis to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.