Vatican Relaxes Catholic Remarriage Rules

Vatican is going to make it easier for Roman Catholics to get annulments and remarry within the Church, Pope Francis’ new reforms have revealed.

The Catholic Church does not recognize divorce, teaching that marriage is forever.

In order to separate, Catholics must have their marriage annulled by showing it was flawed from the outset.

The radical reforms allow access to procedures free of charge and fast-track decisions, as well as removing automatic appeals.

Until now the procedures have been seen as arcane, expensive and bureaucratic.

Catholics seeking an annulment previously needed approval from two Church tribunals. The reforms will reduce this to one, although appeals will still be allowed.

The new fast-track procedure will allow bishops to grant annulments directly if both spouses request it.

Because annulment procedures are complicated, couples normally require experts to guide them through, meaning that gaining one can be expensive.

Without an annulment, Catholics who divorce and marry again are considered adulterers and are not allowed to receive communion.

In 2014, Pope Francis set up a commission of church lawyers and clerical experts to look at how to streamline the procedure.

Writing about the changes, Pope Francis said it was unfair that spouses should be “long oppressed by darkness of doubt” over whether their marriages could be annulled.